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Introduction

For more than 100 years, Boeing has been one of Washington’s most influential employers and innovators, designing planes, creating thousands of jobs, and helping build the modern aerospace industry. But Boeing’s story is also one of booms and busts, labor struggles, environmental impact, and changing political influence. In this inquiry, students explore how Boeing began, what its growth meant for workers and communities across the state, and how major events like World War II, the “Boeing Bust,” and the Dreamliner shaped its future. In this inquiry, students investigate how one company can influence everything from housing to highways to higher education, and they consider the long-term costs and benefits of economic dependence on a single industry.

HistoryLink Articles

Founding Industry & Growth

• Boeing and Washington’s Aerospace Industry, 1934-2015
• Boeing and Early Aviation in Seattle, 1909-1919
• Boeing enters airline business by winning federal air mail contract for Chicago-San Francisco route on January 28, 1927.

WWII Aircraft & Production

• World War II Home Front on Puget Sound
• Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet
• Boeing Flying Fortress B-17 prototype takes her maiden flight on July 28, 1935.

Boeing Bust and 1971 Billboard to Present

• Boeing Bust (1969-1971)
• Boeing 787 makes its first flight on December 15, 2009.

Labor & Workforce

• Boeing hires Florise Spearman, first African American employee, in January 1942.
• Boeing Company begins importing women workers from across the country in June 1943.
• Aeronautical Machinists Union strikes Boeing on April 22, 1948. (short text) Boeing Machinists Strike, 1948

Global Innovation

• Boeing wins prime contract to design and build modules for International Space Station on December 1, 1987.