(Image courtesy of Washington State Archives)

It kinda looked like a giant gray mushroom just south of downtown Seattle. It was a less-than-perfect place to watch baseball on a warm summer night (who wants to be indoors watching baseball on those nights?!). But it also was the first home for the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners, and it briefly was home base for the Sonics (remember them?) and Sounders in the late 1970s and early ‘80s.

Of course, we are talking about the Kingdome, which opened in 1976 and was the site for some of Seattle’s greatest sports moments, from the Sonics’ march to their 1979 NBA title, to the Mariners’ thrilling Game 5 win over the Yankees in the ’95 ALDS, to three NCAA men’s college basketball Final Fours. And don’t forget some big-time rock concerts there: Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, Madonna and Pink Floyd, to name a few.

The Kingdome was imploded in 2000 to make way for CenturyLink Field, the Seahawks’ current stadium. But our State Archives has lots of documents related to Seattle’s first big-time stadium, including a letter from Gov. Dan Evans to NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, letting him know how anxious Washingtonians were for an NFL team, a list of Kingdome events in February 1979 (lots of Sonics games, home shows, motorcycle races and soccer matches) , as well as the Seahawks’ 1979 home schedule (guess which team they hosted on Monday Night Football that year!). The Kingdome docs are the third and final Archives Treasure for September.

We’ll launch our September online poll soon, so be ready to vote for your favorite Archives Treasure!