Many of the buildings at the Seattle World's Fair were intended to be permanent. The day after the World's Fair closed, the U.S. Science Pavilion reopened as the Pacific Science Center. President John F. Kennedy had been scheduled to make the official transfer to the City of Seattle, but was detained in Washington by the Cuban missile crisis.

Here, Senator Warren Magnuson, standing in for the President, speaks to the crowd gathered for the re-opening of the Science Center. A model of the Mariner Space Craft is suspended above the podium.

Sign in image: U.S. Science Exhibit (April 21 - Oct. 21 1962). The Science Center Opens Oct. 22 1962.
Handwritten on sleeve: SEATTLE, PACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER, Century 21 Science building presented to Seattle.
Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): October 22, 1962.

Caption information from The Seattle Times, October 22, 1962.