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Celebrate the Monorail’s 55th birthday on Friday

The Monorail is marking the occasion with a party and tours

By Sarah Anne Lloyd
A monorail train shot from the front Mobilus In Mobili/Flickr

The Seattle Center Monorail was built for the 1962 World’s Fair, which means this year is the big five-five for the one-mile railway.

This Friday from 12 to 2 p.m., the Seattle Center Monorail is having a party to celebrate with free tours of the line, including a “behind-the-scenes look at the Monorail maintenance facility” for people who register.

Although it’s the monorail’s birthday, humans get presents, including vintage t-shirts, World’s Fair memorabilia, and other swag, which will be extra-festive when the World’s Fair anniversary rolls around in April. Also: donuts.

Our little monorail line has seen a lot in more than half a century without leaving the confines of its one-mile route: Attempted (and failed) expansions, fires, Westlake Mall’s construction.

Still, the intrepid little line continues to carry an average of 6,000 tourists, sightseers, Space Needle fireworks-watchers, and hurried commuters every day. Here’s to another 55 years. Maybe at some point in that time it’ll take ORCA cards.