Paine Field
public airport located in unincorporated Snohomish County, Washington
Seattle Paine Field International Airport (IATA: PAE, ICAO: KPAE, FAA LID: PAE) — also known as Paine Field and Snohomish County Airport — is a commercial and general aviation airport serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located in unincorporated Snohomish County, Washington, between the cities of Mukilteo and Everett, about 25 miles (40 km) north of Seattle. PAE covers 1,315 acres (2.05 mi2; 5.32 km2) of land.
The airport was built in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration and began commercial service in 1939. It was named for Topliff Olin Paine in 1941, shortly before the Army Air Corps began the occupation of Paine Field for military use. The airport briefly returned to civilian use from 1946 through 1950 with service by West Coast Airlines before conversion into an air force base during the Korean War. In 1966, the Boeing Company selected Paine Field for the site of its Everett assembly plant as part of the Boeing 747 program. By the 1970s, the airport had grown into a hub for light aviation and manufacturing, lacking commercial service. The county government sought to begin commercial service at Paine Field as early as the 1980s but was halted by opposition from neighboring cities.
In March 2019, Paine Field resumed commercial service at a newly constructed terminal.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Paine Field” as public airport located in unincorporated Snohomish County, Washington. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as public airport located in unincorporated Snohomish County, Washington. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q838219. VIAF identifies the subject as 152834036. The Library of Congress control number is no2009042378. Authority coordinates are 47.906, -122.281. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1936, 1939, 1941 and 1946.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Paine Field”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Paine Field primary sources, Paine Field archive and Paine research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Paine Field”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Paine Field” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.