Seattle garnered the nickname Jet City as the home of Boeing, who by the 1920s was the largest employer in King County, Washington. For a half century, the fortunes of the city and the aerospace corporation rose and fell as one, from the World War I economic boom to the bust that halted production when the cold war reached detente during the Nixon administration.
City leaders began diversifying Seattle's economy in the early 70s. Boeing's 2001 move to Chicago -- foreshadowed by its merger with McDonnell Douglas four years earlier -- finished stripping Seattle of its reliance on aerospace for both jobs and image. However, local businesses such as Jet City Pizza still retain the city's nickname. | 
