Encouraged by the Memphis Aero Club,
est. 1925, Watkins Overton made the construction of a Memphis airport
a major issue in his mayoral campaign of 1927. After his election,
the 100-acre Ward Farm about 7.5 miles SE of downtown Memphis was
selected for the location. On June 15, 1929, the Memphis Municipal
Airport opened for business, consisting of a sod field runway and
three small hangars. Two hundred planes flew in to celebrate its
opening. However that fall the stock market crash dampened the demand
for passenger services. 1930 saw only 15 passengers arriving and
departing Memphis on a daily basis. But air mail and air freight kept
the airport open; the major carriers were American Airways and
Chicago & South. The first improvements came in 1934, when three
asphalt diagonal runways were constructed. In 1937-38, the New Deal
chipped in with needed improvements as the WPA built a new terminal
and generally modernized the airport facilities and infrastructure.
During World War II, the U.S. Army assumed administration of the
municipal airport. After the military relinquished its control, moves
were made to respond to increased demands for passenger travel,
especially regarding the Douglas DC-3. In 1947 the terminal was
enlarged and by 1949 there were least six major carriers. The
facility reached the benchmark of one million passengers in 1959.
Four years later, on June 7, 1963, the city dedicated a new terminal
which--for its $5.5 million cost--provided twenty-two airplane gates
for seven competing airlines.
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Source: wikipedia.com
