One of a number of interpretive displays at the Museum of Flight and inside the T. Evans Wyckoff Memorial Bridge reads:
Boeing's Expansion
Land for a Dollar
Due to the increased demand for larger and heavier aircraft during the 1930s, the growing Boeing Airplane Company needed larger work spaces and there were rumors that it would move to California.
An immigrant farmer convinced Boeing to stay in Washington by selling the company his land on the west side of Boeing Field for $1. The generosity of Guiseppe Desimone allowed the company to construct, in 1936, a second airplane building plant adjacent to the runways of Boeing Field.
Boeing's Two Plants
Plant No. 1, located on the original site of the Red Barn, was used for work on parts for all airplanes and for the complete assembly of the 314 Clippers.
The new Plant No. 2 was used for fuselage and wing construction of Model 307s and B-17 Flying Fortresses, and for final assembly operations. With war in Europe, Plant No. 2 was expanded too in the late 1930s to make bombers for the Allies. While Plant No.
1 was closed in 1970 and sold to the Port of Seattle,
Plants No. 2 can still be seen on the west side of East Marginal Way South a little over a mile north of the Museum.