Airports Sites

The Works Progress Administration constructed a hangar at the Carbon County Airport in Price, Utah. The quonset hut hangar (photograph above) appears to be the hangar in question: quonset hut style buildings were common at airports in the 1930s and 40s, and little has changed at this small airport. We have been unable to confirm either the accuracy of this information or the date of construction. 

Local businessman Harrison Green established Lewistown’s first airport at this location in 1928, intending to sell it to the city or operate it as a private enterprise. The city, however, established its own airport in 1933 just across the road from Green’s runway. When airmail and air passenger service began in 1933, it quickly became obvious that the city’s airport was inadequate. It was too close to power lines and its runway was too short. After several close calls, the city negotiated relocation of its airport to Green’s facility. In 1937, this became Lewistown’s municipal airport. In 1941, the WPA improved...

This PWA building was constructed in 1937-38 and demolished in 2013. A two-story Art Deco building intended to house both hangar and terminal facilities. The architects were Jackson, Robertson & Adams. The building was torn down as a safety measure for a runway extension.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA), in conjunction with the War Department, developed what is now known as Hanscom Air Force Base / Field in Massachusetts. WPA project details: "Improvements to municipal airport" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐14‐490 Total project cost: $195,895.00 Sponsor: War Department

"The prominence of soaring in Elmira was established with the first thirteen national soaring contests, held here from 1930 to 1946. This was made possible through an alliance of the Soaring Society of America (SSA), the Harris Hill Soaring Corporation (HHSC), and what became our county's Chamber of Commerce. Harris Hill, home to the Museum and HHSC, has since hosted many other national, regional and international contests and exhibitions. The Works Projects Administration (WPA) built Chemung County's Harris Hill Park in the 1930s. These facilities included the gliderport, hangars, cabins for housing contest pilots and crews, a youth camp, and...

"Hartford-Brainard Airport, located in the city of Hartford, has historically been one of the busiest general aviation airports in the state. In 1921, a 350-acre cow pasture became the chosen site for what has been called the country’s first municipal airport." (CTAirports) The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) contributed dramatically to the airport's development, including the following: "Construct runways, turning circle, curbs, shoulders, catch basins, walks and fences at Brainerd Field." Official Project Number: 165‐1‐15‐117 Total project cost: $560,800.00 Sponsor: City of Hartford

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to develop the precursor to what is now Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, then known as Atlanta Municipal Airport or Candler Field, during the 1930s.

The terminal building was constructed in 1936 for the Jackson Municipal Airport (then called Davis Field). The airport continued to expand with new runways and other amenities funded by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) until 1941, including use of the field for pilot training during WWII. The terminal building is currently undergoing extensive restoration.

Built by the WPA.

Hensley Field is a military base and former Naval Air Station located in Grand Prairie, Texas that was established in 1928. Originally created as an Army Aviation Center, the base became home to all military service’s aviators. In 1936, Hensley Field received Works Progress Administration funding amounting to $700,000 to improve the military base’s airport and add a new runway. The new runway would be 1000 feet long and 400 feet wide according to superintendent of WPA projects and planning, W. A. Orth. These reconstruction efforts would encourage the military to push for more reserve pilot training and refueling missions that...

"Hill Air Force Base (HAFB), originally known as Hill Field, was the site for the Ogden Air Depot, whose name underwent several changes until it became the Ogden Air Materiel Area. The depot's original mission was to repair and maintain aircraft and provide supply services for the Army Air Corps. Launched in 1938 as a WPA project on a hilltop section of Davis County dry-farm land, by 1943 Hill Field was the largest employer in Utah." "The site was selected in 1935 and the first facility built by the WPA four years later." (utah.gov)

Between 1935 and 1941, the WPA contributed nearly $300,000 to the expansion and improvement of the Hilo Airport, then known as General Lyman Field (e.g., significant lengthening of runways). Today, the airport serves well over 1 million passengers per year and provides a landing area for 25,000 tons of cargo and 3,000 tons of mail annually.

The Holman Field Administration Building at St. Paul Downtown Airport in St. Paul, Minnesota was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: "The Holman Field Administration Building is significant under criterion C as one of the most accomplished works of Clarence Wesley Wigington, the first Black architect for the City of St. Paul. The building is also significant under criterion A as an important WPA project completed in cooperation with the City of St. Paul, and as well-preserved example of the Moderne style. Wigington's career as an architect with the City spanned 34 years and...

Between 1935 and 1937, the WPA contributed $38,000 to extending the runways of John Rodgers Airport (now Honolulu International Airport). Today, the airport serves well over 18 million passengers per year and provides a landing area for 370,000 tons of cargo and over 100,000 tons of mail annually.

The W.P.A. developed what is now known as Houlton International Airport, in Houlton, Maine. W.P.A. project info: "Construct municipal airport" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐11‐102 Total project cost: $669,295.00 Sponsor: Town of Houlton "Improvements to municipal airport" Official Project Number: 65‐1‐11‐2213 Total project cost: $45,805.00 Sponsor: War Department "Construct municipal airport" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐11‐44 Total project cost: $424,820.00 Sponsor: War Department

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the original Idaho Falls airport in 1935-37. We do not know which, if any, of the historic structures remain. "In 1935, the City of Idaho Falls partnered with the Works Project Administration (WPA) to produce the plans and funding needed to build a true airport in Idaho Falls. The hangar and administrator's cabin were built in 1936 of hand-hewn, peeled, native white pine. The hangar provided for maintenance, repair and shelter for aircraft, as well as support for the pilots. Its interior space was divided between the airplane storage and maintenance area and the small...

What was then Indianapolis Municipal Airport, now Indianapolis International Airport, was completed as part of a massive New Deal project, with funds and labor provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It is sometimes difficult, from sources, to differentiate work done at this facility and work conducted at the now-demolished Stout Field. Some of these references may instead apply to that airport, another site of extensive WPA work. WPA Project No. 165‐1‐52‐108. Total funds: $1,212,000. Sponsor: War Department. In 1937 it was written that the WPA "built new runways at the airport, helped to install three instrument approach systems, established a radio...

What was then the San Juan Naval Air Station, now Isla Grande Airport in Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico, was developed in substantial part with Work Projects Administration (WPA) labor. Nearly $2,000,000 were expended on such infrastructure development projects at the behest of the U.S. Navy and War Departments.

Jacksonville Municipal Airport, also known as Jacksonville Army Airfield and later Imeson Field, was developed in part by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). One archival image shows that the WPA paved a runway at the airport in 1936. "The site of Imeson Field is located southeast of the intersection of North Main Street & Busch Drive." The buildings on the site are largely demolished.

Newton, Mississippi's James H. Eason Field, formerly known as O'Keefe Airport, was dedicated November 12, 1934. O'Keefe was instrumental, as a federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) employee, in bringing several CWA-funded airports to Mississippi. The then-cost of the project was $12,000.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to improve Johnson County Airport outside Buffalo, Wyoming.

"The airport ... outside Connellsville was one of the first in Western Pennsylvania, opening in 1938. It was the product of a cooperative effort between the city of Connellsville, Fayette County and the federal Works Progress Administration program." "Work on the Connellsville Airport began in January 1936, when project plans were submitted to the WPA; the state-of-the-art facility was dedicated Sept. 30, 1938. The airport initially cost $495,000, with an additional $350,000 allocated for infrastructure and to establish an army base once the airfield had been completed."

A $42,427 WPA grant was used to improve Kalispell airport. According to Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper, the work involved "cement floors for the hangar, construction of a large warmup block, construction of three runways 400 by 2,600 feet, painting the hangar, seeding 60 acres to turf and incidental improvements." The airport is still in use today.

In 1935, students and graduates of the Kamehameha School in Hawaii began research activities on Howland Island (an uninhabited coral island about 1,700 nautical miles southwest of Hawaii). Intrestingly, they also intended to colonize the island: “The Kamehameha colonists constructed three runways on Howland using WPA (Works Progress Administration) funds as a possible re-fueling station for trans-Pacific flights and for use as a landing site by Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan on their round-the-world flight in 1937” ("Pacific Remote Island Area"). In planning her flight around the globe, Earhart was able to hasten the construction of the landing fields. According to...

"The Kansas Aviation Museum in Wichita, Kansas occupies a beautiful WPA (Works Progress Administration) building which was the Wichita Municipal Airport terminal from 1935 to 1951."

As part of a state-wide airport construction project, the Maine Emergency Relief Administration provided the labor for the construction of the Kennebunk Airport, a NW-SE 2000' x 100' graded runway. It was abandoned 50 years ago; the site now houses a wastewater treatment facility.

At the time, it was said to be the largest single-span hangar in California, at 132 feet deep and 200 feet long. Construction involved 50 men, and it was supervised by Cecil Meadows, superintendent at Kern County Airport. "Under direction of Supt. Cecil Meadows, one of the most important airport projects on the west coast is rapidly progressing with W.P.A. workmen on the job. It is the new reinforced concrete hangar at Kern County Airport which, when completed, will be one of the finest and largest of its type on the Coast." "Work Sped at Airport," LA Times, 13 August 1936:...

"In mid-February 1941, Congress appropriated $693,125 to the WPA to construct three 3,500-foot runways and appropriate navigational aids. With the full cooperation of the Owls Head Board of Selectmen, the principal parties signed a formal agreement in early March, and within an hour after the receipt of the Civil Aeronautics Administration certificate of navigation on April 24, 1941, construction began, with 10 men digging test pits under the direction of Rockland civil engineer Franklin H. Wood... By the summer of 1941, the WPA employed more than 100 men to clear the land and construct the runways. With the growing world crisis...

"In 1934, the original Laconia Airport was built in the vicinity of what is now the O’Shea Industrial park. The current airport was built in Gilford in 1941, with funding from the WPA (Works Progress Administration), the City of Laconia, and Belknap County. The City and County paid for the purchase of 439 acres of land, while the WPA paid for the construction of the airport. The airport served as an emergency landing field and military training center during WWII. Two runways were built." W.P.A. Official Project No.: 165‐1‐13‐49 Total project cost: $910,396.00 Sponsors: City of Laconia and Belknap County Commissioners

Construction of New York's LaGuardia Airport was among the largest undertakings of the New Deal's Works Progress Administration (WPA) and included both today's main airport (then the "landplane field") and what is now the Marine Air Terminal (then the "seaplane division"). The airport was constructed on the site of the former North Beach Airport between 1937 and 1939. Under Mayor LaGuardia the city began expanding the site with landfill from Rikers Island. At the time of its completion, LaGuardia was among the most advanced airports in the world. The 1939 WPA Guide to New York City (p.567) describes the new...

"The Civil Works Administration was absorbed by the FERA in the spring of 1934, but it had several projects underway by that time. On land leased from Dr. J. F. Williams and G. B. Truka of Daytona Beach, it was constructing an airplane landing field about a mile south of Monticello. According to the News, the Kiwanis Club had long desired the landing field, "and now through federal aid its dream is about to be realized." The FERA rented a warehouse from D. A. Finlayson to store its supplies."

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor worked to develop Lawrence Municipal Airport in North Andover, Mass., in conjunction with the City of Lawrence and the War Department. W.P.A. project details: "Andover: Improve municipal airport" Official Project Number: 65‐1‐14‐374 Total project cost: $43,610.00 Sponsor: War Department "Lawrence: Extend, widen, and improve runways at airport" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐14‐299 Total project cost: $278,438.00 Sponsor: Mayor, City of Lawrence

Lebanon Municipal Airport was developed by the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal program. Tennessee Encyclopedia: "Some of Tennessee's largest WPA projects reflected the arrival of the age of flight. WPA workers helped complete landing fields and airports at Jellico, Cookeville, Lebanon, Jackson, and Milan."

The W.P.A. worked to develop Lewistown Municipal Airport in Montana. Project details: "Develop airport site" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐91‐48 Total project cost: $66,752.00 Sponsor: City of Lewistown "Develop airport site" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐91‐XX Total project cost: $63,975.00 Sponsor: City of Lewistown

Then known as East Boston Airport, what is now Logan International Airport was developed in part during the 1930s with federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) funds and labor. W.P.A. project details: "Improve airport" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐14‐493 Total project cost: $240,544.00 Sponsor: Park Department, City of Boston

Mines Field opened as the official airport of Los Angeles in 1930, but when it applied for WPA funds in 1935, it was rejected because the land was still leased from private owners. In 1937, the city took full control of the airport and massive WPA construction commenced. The airport's name was officially changed to the Los Angeles Airport in 1941 and to the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in 1949. The government saw its work on this airport as being of immense significance for national defense. The official description of the 1940s photos shown below reads: "Los Angeles Municipal Airport...

The National Industrial Recovery Administration awarded the “United States Public Works project no. NRH-13-B, Maalaea Airport Spur, for the sum of $25,574.76.” The airport was closed permanently in 1939.

"Macon Downtown Airport has its origins beginning in World War I as "Camp Wheeler". As early as 1925, Huff Daland Dusters, the precursor of Delta Air Lines, based its crop dusting operation at Camp Wheeler. In 1936 the City of Macon purchased 250 acres of airfield for $107,000 to replace its inadequate "Miller Field" to support Eastern Air Transport's passenger and mail service to Macon. Then the Works Project Administration began a $500,000 project that included a hangar, a 24 x 56-ft, administration building, and a concrete apron. The new airport was dedicated on November 11, 1937, and named in...

"In 1937, this art deco terminal was a bold architectural statement for rural New Hampshire. Built as one of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects that sprinkled New Hampshire with unique, useful structures and employed hundreds of Granite State residents, the 1937 airport terminal continued in service until the expansion of Manchester Airport in 1995 slated it for demolition... In 2004, the New Hampshire Aviation Historical Society, Manchester Airport, the City of Manchester and Town of Londonderry, came together to preserve The 1937 Terminal. These groups raised 1.1 million dollars to convert the facility into a museum and educational center and...

What became the Marianna Municipal Airport began as a WPA constructed runway in the 1930s, "as part of a 1930's airmail route between Jacksonville and New Orleans." The airport was further developed during World War II.