Pioneer aviator Charles Keeney Hamilton (1881 or 1885-1914) became the first to fly in the state of Washington when he piloted his Curtiss biplane, the Reims Racer, over Seattle on March 11, 1910. Nicknamed "the bird man" and "crazy man of the air," Hamilton survived over 60 crashes.
In this image Hamilton and his plane can be seen above the crowd of 4,500 spectators at the Meadows Race Track as part of a planned three-day aviation exhibition. The day after this image was taken Hamilton crashed his plane into the newly formed lake at the Meadows but suffered only minor injuries. Located south of Georgetown along the Duwamish River, the Meadows was the premier venue in the Northwest for horse racing at the time, and was a good location for early airplane flights, which took the form of entertainment rather than science and engineering. In 1928, the area around The Meadows was selected for the site of Seattle's first airport, Boeing Field.
Caption information source: The Seattle Daily Times, March 14, 1910, page 1 Caption information source: "Meadows Race Track," by David Wilma, HistoryLink.org Essay 2995
ID Number: SHS349
Date: 1911
Physical Description: 1 photographic print: b&w ; 7 x 9.5 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
