Boeing Field

Measure the history and wonder of flight

In the late 1940s, before Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) was built, commercial passenger service was handled by King County International Airport (BFI), or Boeing Field.

Named for William E. Boeing, whose company built and tested early aircraft nearby, Boeing Field remains one of the country’s busiest general aviation airports, serving cargo flights, private aircraft, and one small commercial carrier, Kenmore Air. Downtown Seattle is just four miles away, so celebrities, dignitaries, and sports teams like to touch down here as well.

The small terminal building, first opened in 1930, has an outdoor viewing area popular with plane spotters, and a grassy area opposite the entrance with several historic plaques. Inside, photo exhibits and a building-wide art collection celebrate the region’s ties to aviation history and to the wonder of flight.

Two impressive but easy-to-miss art pieces created for the building’s 2003 restoration are right at the front door. The terminal’s dark blue terrazzo floor sparkles with stars and other astronomical objects that offer a quick journey from North America to the Moon (at the ticket counter) in Paul Marioni and Ann Troutner’s piece, Our Place in Space. And be sure to look up. The building’s entryway is flanked by Brad Miller’s piece, 30,000 Feet, which uses 30,000 onefoot, metal-edged wooden rulers to represent the common cruising altitude of a commercial flight. Two giant arrows made of rulers point to the ceiling and to a pair of illuminated photographs. One depicts the clouds and sky a commercial flyer might see looking out the window of an airplane flying at 30,000 feet. And, Miller explains, because most flights people take to and from this airport are on small planes, the second photograph is of an evergreen forest as it would look from the window of an aircraft flying at a much lower altitude.

Address 7277 Perimeter Road S, Seattle, WA 98108, +1 (206) 296-7380, www.kingcounty.gov/services/airport.aspx, kciacustsvc@kingcounty.gov | Getting there

I-5 S to Albro / Swift Exit 161 | Hours Daily 8am – 5pm | Tip The red barn that was the historic birthplace of the Boeing Airplane Company once sat along the Duwamish River, not far from here. The barn is now in the Museum of Flight, across the airfield from the terminal building (9404 E Marginal Way S, www.museumofflight.org).