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The King County Board of Commissioners spent $500,000 acquire property on which to build the area's first passenger airport, Boeing Field in 11/1927. A year later, the Port of Seattle won a city-wide referendum to raise $400,000 to build a terminal and other facilities at the new field. Diplomatic relations with Japan began to sour by the 1920s, and by 1940 had deteriorated seriously. Preparations for war were made in 1939-1940 across the US to secure key military-industrial complexes and to build worker housing nearby to important manufacturing areas. (Yesler Terrace, one of the first integrated public housing projects, served workers at Boeing Field, was erected at this time.) Boeing remained the main civilian airfield in the Seattle area until 12/06/1941, when the US Army Air Corps (USAAC) requisitioned the key installation for military use. Since then, Boeing has served the Boeing Company, cargo carriers and private planes. In 2005, however, Southwest Airlines sought approval to land its planes at Boeing Field, a proposal that was rejected after concerns about noise were raised by nearby neighborhoods. In 2007, King County proposed a swap with the Port of Seattle of Boeing Field for a 40-mile stretch (from Renton, WA to Snohomish, WA) of railroad tracks owned by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. (This strip of land would be used to create a hiking and biking trail.) The Port of Seattle would pay $169 million to the county for the airport.

PCAD id: 9182