- City:
- Presque Isle, ME
- Site Type:
- Military and Public Safety, Infrastructure and Utilities, Airports
- New Deal Agencies:
- Works Progress Administration (WPA), Work Relief Programs, Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)
- Started:
- 1940
- Completed:
- 1941
- Contractor:
- Lane Construction
- Quality of Information:
- Moderate
- Marked:
- No
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
One of 6 airports considered very important by the State Military Commission in 1940 for use as a military base. A 1940 Maine State Legislature report records that construction of the base was done by the W.P.A. Under FERA/MERA (Maine Emergency Relief Administration) there were constructed a 2100 x 100 graded sod runway and a 2000 x 100 graded sod runway.
“In 1941 the federal government appropriated the local airport, establishing Presque Isle Army Airfield for planes bound to and from Great Britain. Activated as an Army Air Corps military airfield on 15 September… the airfield was de-activated on 20 September 1945 with the end of the war…
The airfield was reactivated by the United States Air Force and redesignated Presque Isle Air Force Base on January 12, 1948 and assigned to the Air Defense Command (ADC) Eastern Air Defense Force…
[In the 1960s,] all military activity ceased. The Presque Isle Industrial Council was formed to develop an industrial park. The former air base now consists of an airport, technical college, housing area and 440 acres (1.8 km2) of industrial park.” (wikipedia)W.P.A. project information:
- “Construct municipal airport”
Official Project Number: 165‐1‐11‐31
Total project cost: $433,002.00
Sponsor: War Department - “Improve municipal airport”
Official Project Number: 165‐1‐11‐7
Total project cost: $8,957.00
Sponsor: War Department - “Construct municipal airport”
Official Project Number: 165‐1‐11‐106
Total project cost: $863,525.00
Sponsor: City of Presque Isle - “Develop municipal airport”
Official Project Number: 185‐1‐11‐31
Total project cost: $432,929.00
Sponsor: City of Presque Isle
Source notes
Maine State Legislature Legislative Record Special Session July 22, 1940
https://en.wikipedia.org
Nationwide Context, Inventory, and Heritage Assessment of Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps Resources on Department of Defense Installations, July 2009 (page C-86).
Site originally submitted by Andrew Laverdiere on January 2, 2016.
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