|
By fall of 1940, Stearman had 1,200 employees and was operating three production shifts. Beechcraft had 1,260 employees and was building 70,000 square feet of additional space, with an estimated employment of 4,000 to 5,000 by spring of 1941. Payrolls at the three major plants totaled $400,000 a month. In October 1940, the federal government authorized the construction of a new plant devoted to the production of bombers at the Stearman division of Boeing in Wichita. This plant, to be known as Plant II, would be owned by the federal government and would roll out its first B-29 bomber in April of 1943. This new construction would expand the existing 350,000 square foot facility to approximately 1.5 million square feet and would increase employment to more than 20,000 within two or three years. By the end of the war, Stearman was officially renamed Boeing-Wichita; it had grown to more than 3,000,000 feet of production space and had produced more than 1,000 B-29's.
The aircraft industry, particularly the production of B-29's for WWII was a driving force behind the Wichita economy during the middle of the 20th century. |
It was within this context, that the city's population which was 114,966 in 1940 grew to 135,000 in 1941. A census in March 1943 put the population at 189,910. More than 225,000 people lived in the metropolitan area at that time. Not surprisingly, the problem that confronted Wichita business and political leaders in the early 1940's was housing. In October of 1940, estimates showed that aircraft factories would add at least 12,000 workers during the year. Assuming 10,000 would come from outside the city, with an average family size of three, the town would need new housing for 30,000 people. President Roosevelt designated Wichita as one of 146 'defense areas' where homes would be financed through the Federal Housing Administration with no down payment. In addition, the federal government announced early in 1941 that it would build 400 homes in Wichita, at an average cost of $3,500, to house defense workers. This project became known as Hilltop Manor.
|
 |
|
|
Related to Hilltop Neighborhood Revitalization Plan |
|
|
|
|
|
|