Established in 1904, when Day Karr and George Gregory formed Karr & Gregory, a law firm committed to providing exceptional legal services at a fair price to both individuals and businesses throughout the Pacific Northwest. Now, over the past 120 years later, much has changed since the inception of the firm, but our grounding principles remain the same. As KTC has evolved with the city of Seattle, the Pacific Northwest region, the country, and the world, we celebrate our remarkable history and evolution. We invite you to explore this historical timeline 1904 – 2024.
Pike Place Market Opens
- Presidents: Roosevelt and Taft
- 1904: Day Karr and George Gregory form law practice, Karr & Gregory
- 1906: King Street Station opens
- 1907: Pike Place Market opens
- 1908: First railroad bridge in Washington is built across Columbia River
- 1908: Summer Olympics hosted by London, England
- 1909: World’s Fair held at Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition (now UW Campus)
- 1909: Harbor Island completed, world’s largest artificial island at the time
- 1910: Women granted the right to vote in Washington
- 1910: Washington reaches over a million residents for the first time
- 1910: Charles Hamilton pilots Seattle’s first airplane
Port of Seattle established
- Presidents: Taft and Wilson
- 1911: Port of Seattle established
- 1912: Summer Olympics hosted by Stockholm, Sweden
- 1913: National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) formed in Seattle
- 1913: Washington State Park System established
- 1914: Beginning of World War I
- 1914: First female Justice of the Peace elected, Reah Whitehead
- 1914: Smith Tower opens, tallest building west of Ohio
- 1915: Boeing is established
- 1915: First long-distance telephone service between New York and San Francisco
Paramount Theater opens
- Presidents: Wilson, Harding, Coolidge and Hoover
- 1921: Western North American heat wave kills 91 in Washington, state’s second deadliest natural disaster on record
- 1924: Indian Citizenship Act recognizes all Native Americans as U.S. citizens
- 1924: Sand Point Airfield is endpoint of the first aerial circumnavigation of the world
- 1924: Winter Olympics hosted by Chamonix, France; first Olympic Winter Games; Summer Games hosted by Paris
- 1924: First radio broadcast in Washington State
- 1925: Seattle Planning Commission established
- 1926: Paramount Theater opens
- 1926: First female mayor of a major U.S. city is elected in Seattle, Bertha Knight Landes
Franklin Roosevelt
- Presidents: Hoover and Roosevelt
- 1931: The Star-Spangled Banner adopted as the national anthem
- 1932: Winter Olympics hosted by Lake Placid, New York, Summer Games hosted by Los Angeles
- 1933: Seattle Art Museum opens
- 1933: Boeing 247 takes flight, marks the beginning of commercial air travel
- 1933: Prohibition ends
- 1935: Social Security Act is passed
- 1935: Bureau of Investigation becomes the Federal Bureau of Investigation
- 1936: Howard Tuttle and Carl Koch join the firm, name changes to Karr Gregory Campbell Koch & Tuttle
Grand Coulee Dam completed
- Presidents: Roosevelt and Truman
- 1941: Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, U.S. enters World War II
- 1941: Boeing became largest Seattle employer, providing government with tens of thousands of planes
- 1941: Washington ranked as one of the top two states in the nation for war contracts
- 1941: Grand Coulee Dam completed
- 1942: FDR signs executive order expelling Japanese Americans from West Coast
- 1942: Guitar legend Jimi Hendrix is born in Seattle
- 1943: Koch, Campbell, Tuttle and F. Lee Campbell report for active duty in World War II
WA State Ferries begin operation
- Presidents: Truman and Eisenhower
- 1951: Washington State Ferries begin operation
- 1952: Winter Olympics hosted by Oslo, Norway; Helsinki, Finland hosts Summer Games
- 1953: Muriel Mawer joins KTC, name changes to Karr Tuttle Campbell Koch & Granberg
- 1954: Racial segregation in schools declared unconstitutional
- 1956: Winter Olympics hosted by Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy; Melbourne, Australia hosts summer Games
- 1957: State Department of Natural Resources established
Space Needle and Monorail open
- Presidents: Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon
- 1961: Robert Payne Karr joins the firm, first of the third generation of Karr’s
- 1961: Space Needle and Monorail open
- 1961: Hood Canal Floating Bridge opens
- 1962: Seattle World’s Fair opens
- 1963: President Kennedy is assassinated
- 1963: Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers “I Have A Dream” speech
- 1963: Seattle Opera and Seattle Repertory Theatre founded
- 1964: Beatles perform at Seattle Center Coliseum
- 1964: U.S. active combat units enter Vietnam War
- 1964: Congress passes the Wilderness Act
- 1964: Civil Rights Act is signed
Starbucks opens first store in Pike Place Market
- Presidents: Nixon, Ford and Carter
- 1971: Starbucks opens first store in Pike Place Market
- 1971: Dale Chihuly establishes Pilchuck Glass School
- 1971: Shoreline Protection Act passed
- 1971: D.B. Cooper parachutes from skyjacked jetliner over southwest Washington
- 1972: Winter Olympics hosted by Sapporo, Japan; Munich, West Germany hosts Summer Games
- 1973: F. Lee Campbell becomes President of KTC
- 1973: Endangered Species Act established
- 1974: Seahawks franchise established
- 1974: Federal Judge Boldt issues historic ruling affirming Native American treaty fishing rights
- 1975: Karr Tuttle Koch Campbell Mawer Morrow & Sax, located 2600 First National Building
- 1975: Microsoft is founded
Downtown Seattle Transit tunnel opens
- Presidents: Reagan and Bush
- 1981: Tacoma Dome opens
- 1981: First woman Supreme Court justice sworn in, Sandra Day O’Connor
- 1982: The Emerald City epithet and logo adopted for Seattle
- 1983: First Costco opens in Seattle
- 1984: Craig Campbell becomes president of KTC
- 1984: KTC opens Bellevue office
- 1984: Winter Olympics hosted by Sarajevo, Yugoslavia; Los Angeles, California hosts Summer Games
- 1985: Columbia Seafirst Center opens, Seattle’s tallest building
- 1985: Ozone hole discovery
- 1985: Lithium ion battery invented
- 1986: KTC merges with Sax & MacIver, name changes to Karr Tuttle Koch Campbell Mawer Morrow & Sax
First Asian elected to WA Legislature, Velma Veloria
- Presidents: Clinton and Bush
- 1991: Persian Gulf War
- 1992: KTC recognized for commitment to community service, awarded Seattle King County Bar Association Pro Bono Service Award
- 1992: First Asian elected to Washington Legislature, Velma Veloria
- 1992: Scientists first report of climate change threatening coral reefs
- 1992: Winter Olympics hosted by Albertville, France; Barcelona, Spain hosts Summer Games
- 1993: KTC merges with the law firm of Sylvester Rudd
- 1993: Amazon.com is founded
Terrorist attacks on Twin Towers and the Pentagon
- Presidents: Bush and Obama
- 2001: 6.8 earthquake strikes Puget Sound
- 2001: Boeing relocates corporate headquarters to Chicago
- 2001: Terrorist attacks on Twin Towers and the Pentagon
- 2002: First sporting event at Seahawks Stadium, Seattle Sounders game
- 2003: Scientists link extreme global weather to climate change
- 2004: Mount St. Helens erupts
- 2004: Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project founded
- 2004: Christine Gregoire wins nation’s closets-ever governor’s race to date
- 2004: Summer Olympics hosted by Athens, Greece
- 2005: Strict anti-smoking law goes into effect in Washington
- 2005: Governor Gregoire signs bill extending civil rights laws to gays and lesbians
Washington becomes first state in the U.S. to legalize cannabis
- Presidents: Obama, Trump and Biden
- 2011: Al-Qaeda leader and terrorist Osama bin Laden killed by U.S. Navy SEALs
- 2012: Washington becomes first state in the U.S. to legalize cannabis
- 2012: Summer Olympics hosted by London, England
- 2013: Karr Tuttle & Campbell located at 701 5th Avenue
- 2013: Alaskan Way Viaduct, tunnel-boring machine Bertha begins
- 2014: Seahawks win Super Bowl
- 2014: Winter Olympics hosted by Sochi, Russia
- 2015: The Paris Agreement is adopted
- 2015: Washington experiences driest summer on record, unprecedented number of wildfires
- 1915: Prohibition begins in Washington
- 1915: Everett Massacre, bloodiest battle in Pacific Northwest labor history
- 1916: Summer Olympics cancelled because of World War I
- 1917: U.S. enters World War I
- 1917: Seattle Metropolitan hockey team wins Stanley Cup
- 1917: Lake Washington Ship Canal completed
- 1918: Influenza pandemic kills 50 million people worldwide
- 1918: End of World War I
- 1920: Washington’s first radio station begins broadcasting
- 1920: Summer Olympics hosted by Antwerp, Belgium, first Olympics after WWI
U.S. enters World War I- 1926: U.S. Naval Air Station established at Sand Point
- 1927: Charles Lindbergh makes first solo nonstop transatlantic flight
- 1928: Winter Olympics hosted by St. Mortiz, Switzerland; Summer Games hosted by Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 1929: Seattle Urban League founded
- 1929: Stock market crash, Black Tuesday
- 1929: The Great Depression begins
- 1930: Clarence Campbell joins the firm, name changes to Karr Gregory & Campbell
- 1930: Payne Karr becomes president of KTC
- 1930: first woman to be licensed as an architect in Washington, Elizabeth Ayer
The Great Depression- 1936: UW rowing crew wins Olympic Gold in Berlin
- 1936: Eddie Bauer invents the down parka
- 1936: Fair Labor Standards Act is passed, setting first U.S. minimum wage at .25 per hour
- 1936: Winter Olympics hosted by Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany; Berlin hosts Summer Games
- 1937: REI is founded
- 1937: Bonneville Dam completed
- 1938: Olympic National Park established
- 1940: first peacetime draft
- 1940: Olympics cancelled due to World War II
- 1940: Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapses
- 1940: Lake Washington Floating Bridge opens, world’s first of its kind
Boeing 247 takes flight, the beginning of commercial air travel- 1944: Olympics cancelled due to World War II
- 1945: U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- 1945: World War II ends, postwar economic boom begins in Puget Sound
- 1947: Seattle-Tacoma International Airport opens
- 1947: Central Intelligence Agency is formed
- 1948: Washington’s first wide-audience TV broadcast airs
- 1948: Seattle becomes center of counterculture and culture of protest emergence
- 1948: Winter Olympics hosted by St. Moritz, Switzerland; London, England hosts Summer Games
- 1949: NATO is established
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport opens- 1958: Fossil fuels blamed for rising Co2 levels
- 1958: First American satellite is launched
- 1959: UW scientist collects blood sample of first documented case of HIV
- 1960: Seattle becomes first city in the state to exceed 500,000 people
- 1960: FDA approves birth control pill
Seattle becomes first city in the state to exceed 500,000 people- 1964: Winter Olympics hosted by Innsbruck, Austria; Tokyo, Japan hosts Summer Games
- 1965: 6.7 earthquake strikes Puget Sound region
- 1966: Due process is defined, and Miranda Rights established
- 1967: World’s first computer model of climate change is unveiled
- 1967: Seattle Radical Women is formed, one of the first women’s liberation groups in the U.S.
- 1968: Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated
- 1968: Scientists predicts melting ice caps
- 1968: Winter Olympics hosted by Grenoble, France; Mexico hosts Summer Games
- 1969: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established
- 1970: KTC considered a full-service regional law firm
- 1970: Washington voters legalize abortion
- 1970: Jimi Hendrix dies of drug overdose
Hood Canal Floating Bridge opens
World’s first computer model of climate change is unveiled
- 1975: World’s first “commercial software for personal computers” invented in Seattle
- 1975: Vietnam War ends
- 1976: First woman governor of Washington elected, Dixy Lee Ray
- 1976: Winter Olympics hosted by Innsbruck, Austria; Montreal Canada hosts Summer Games
- 1977: Karr Tuttle Koch Campbell Mawer & Morrow, located at 1001 Fourth Avenue
- 1988: Washington Convention Center Opens
- 1977: Mariner’s baseball team is formed and plays first game
- 1979: Seattle SuperSonics basketball team wins NBA Finals
- 1979: Hood Canal Floating Bridge sinks during storm
- 1980: Karr Tuttle Koch Campbell Mawer & Morrow, located at 1111 3rd Avenue
- 1980: Mount St. Helens erupts, deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history
- 1980: Winter Olympics hosted by Lake Placid, New York; Moscow, Soviet Union hosts Summer Games
Endangered Species Act established
First woman governor of Washington elected, Dixy Lee Ray
Mount St. Helens erupts, deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history- 1986: Space Shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after launch
- 1986: Microsoft offers first public shares
- 1988: Firm changes name to become Karr Tuttle Campbell
- 1988: Washington Convention Center Opens
- 1988: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change established
- 1988: Winter Olympics hosted by Calgary, Canada; Seoul, Korea hosts Summer Games
- 1989: Karr Tuttle Campbell located at 1201 3rd Avenue
- 1989: Nirvana releases its first album
- 1991: Downtown Seattle Transit tunnel opens
- 1999: Pearl Jam plays first concert in Seattle
- 1990: Martin T. Crowder becomes president of KTC
- 1999: Congress passes Native American Graves Protection & Repatriation Act
- 1999: Washington Growth Management Act passes
- 1993: Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain commits suicide
- 1994: Bruce E. Larson becomes president of KTC
- 1994: First climate change legislation
- 1994: Winter Olympics hosted by Lillehammer, Norway
- 1996: Summer Olympics hosted by Atlanta, Georgia
- 1997: Hybrid cars are invented
- 1998: Winter Olympics hosted by Nagano, Japan
- 1999: World Trade Organization anti-globalization protests in Seattle
- 1999: Department of Interior lists nine salmon runs as Endangered Species
- 2000: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation founded, largest charitable organization in the U.S.
- 2000: Kingdome Stadium is imploded
- 2000: Experience Music Project opens
- 2000: Walla Wall Wine Institute founded
- 2000: Summer Olympics hosted by Sydney, Australia
Kingdome Stadium is imploded- 2006: Last coal mine in Washington closes
- 2006: Winter Olympics hosted by Turin, Italy
- 2007: Olympic Sculpture Park opens
- 2007: Scientists report arctic warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet
- 2008: Seattle SuperSonics move to Oklahoma City
- 2008: Summer Olympics hosted by Beijing, China
- 2010: Winter Olympics hosted by Vancouver, Canada
- 2016: Summer Olympics hosted by Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 2018: Winter Olympics hosted by PyeongChang, South Korea
- 2019: UK is the first country to pass net zero emissions law
- 2019: Wide variety of Earth’s animal and plant species lost at unprecedented pace
- 2020: J. Dino Vasquez becomes president of KTC
- 2020: Washington reports country’s first case of COVID-19 and first COVID death
- 2020: George Floyd murdered, protests nationwide
- 2020: Spin out company from University of Oxford sets world record for solar power
- 2021: Determined that many aspects of climate change are irreversible
- 2021: Winter Olympics hosted by Tokyo, Japan – postponed 1 yr. due to pandemic
- 2022: State Historical Society leads commemoration of Black History Month at State Capitol
- 2022: Western North American heat wave kills 91 in one of Washington, state’s second deadliest natural disaster on record
- 2022: Winter Olympics hosted by Beijing, China
- 2023: Beloved KTC President, Bruce E. Larson, passes away
- 2023: Seattle becomes first city in the U.S. to ban discrimination based on caste
- 2024: KTC celebrates 120th Anniversary
Washington reports country’s first case of COVID-19 and first COVID death
State Historical Society leads commemoration of Black History Month at State Capitol