Many factors led to the growth and exposure of Seattle, some examples are the following:
• The Great Seattle Fire of 1889, which destroyed the business area (although there were no deaths)
• The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exhibition of 1909, which is primarily responsible for the current layout of the University of Washington campus
• The Seattle General Strike of 1919, the first general strike in the United States of America
• The Exhibition of the 21st Century of 1962, a Universal Exhibition
• The 1990 Goodwill Games
• Grunge movement born at the end of the decade of 1980 and of world-wide boom during the first years of the decade of 1990
• The meeting of the World Trade Organization in 1999, marked by the protests of the anti-globalization movement known as N30, or Battle of Seattle.