Wichita marks 10 years since Boeing made the big announcement that it was leaving town, as the massive defense plant in S. Wichita was scheduled to be closed by the end of 2013.
Boeing’s 2,100 local employees were all sent home for the day after the morning announcement.
Along with closing in Wichita, Boeing announced it was going to add 800 jobs in Oklahoma City and about 350 jobs in San Antonio.
Losing more than 2,000 Boeing jobs was expected to cost Wichita $1.5 billion in direct wages during the coming decade. At the time, the finishing and delivery center for the $35 billion tanker contract with the U.S. Air Force was also moved from Wichita to the state of Washington.
Boeing began studying the possible closure in the summer of 2011, and the the final decision was made on December 30th, 2011.
Boeing had been operating on-site facilities in Wichita since the late 1920s.
At the time of the closure, Boeing and other defense firms were facing shrinking Pentagon budgets during the Obama administraiton. The Defense Department was trimming $450 billion during the upcoming decade.
At one point during World War II, Boeing had more than 40,000 employees in Wichita manufacturing bombers for the war effort.