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Meigs Field
Merrill C. Meigs Field Airport (pronounced /mɛgz/, formerly ICAO: KCGX, FAA LID: CGX) was a single-runway airport in Chicago, named for newspaper publisher and aviation enthusiast Merrill C. Meigs. It was located on Northerly Island, an artificial peninsula in Lake Michigan, and was operational from 1948 to 2003.
Constructed to accommodate demand for general aviation following World War II, Meigs Field also served regional commercial air travel. With its proximity to downtown Chicago, it quickly became the busiest single-strip airport in the United States, adding an air traffic tower in 1952, and a terminal in 1961.
It became widely familiar when it was featured as the default airport in early versions of the Microsoft Flight Simulator software.
Seeking to repurpose the land as a park, mayor Richard M. Daley forced its abrupt closure in 2003 by ordering the overnight destruction of its runway.
Northerly Island, owned by the Chicago Park District, is the only lakefront structure to be built based on Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago. The Plan of Chicago had no provision for air service. The island was to be populated by trees and grass for the public enjoyment by all. Northerly Island was also the site of the Century of Progress (1933–34) in Chicago. Chicago's first airplane flight took place in 1910 in Grant Park, adjacent to Northerly Island, with an international aeronautical exhibition at the same location in 1911. Then, in 1918, regular air mail service to Grant Park began. Nonetheless, Grant Park was unsuitable for the city's growing aviation needs.
Burnham died in 1912. By 1916, Edward H. Bennett, co-author of the Plan of Chicago, wrote that a lakefront location would be most suitable for an airport serving the central business district. In 1920, Chicagoans approved a bond referendum to pay for landfill construction of the peninsula, and in 1922 construction began. That same year Mayor William Hale Thompson recommended locating the downtown airport there. A few years later the Chicago South Park Commission voted in agreement. In 1928, the Chicago Association of Commerce, representing the business community, also advocated for the lakefront airport.
The Great Depression put numerous civic plans on hold, including the airport. Construction continued on the peninsula itself, with the 1933 World's Fair occupying the just-completed peninsula. In the 1930s, the Chicago City Council and Illinois State Legislature passed resolutions to create the airport, but both the poor economy and World War II intervened.
Almost immediately after World War II, in 1946, airport construction began. That same year the Illinois state legislature deeded 24 acres (9.7 ha) of adjacent lake bottom to Chicago for additional landfill, to make the property large enough for a suitable runway. Aviation technology had advanced rapidly during World War II. The airport opened on December 10, 1948, in a grand ceremony.
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Meigs Field
Merrill C. Meigs Field Airport (pronounced /mɛgz/, formerly ICAO: KCGX, FAA LID: CGX) was a single-runway airport in Chicago, named for newspaper publisher and aviation enthusiast Merrill C. Meigs. It was located on Northerly Island, an artificial peninsula in Lake Michigan, and was operational from 1948 to 2003.
Constructed to accommodate demand for general aviation following World War II, Meigs Field also served regional commercial air travel. With its proximity to downtown Chicago, it quickly became the busiest single-strip airport in the United States, adding an air traffic tower in 1952, and a terminal in 1961.
It became widely familiar when it was featured as the default airport in early versions of the Microsoft Flight Simulator software.
Seeking to repurpose the land as a park, mayor Richard M. Daley forced its abrupt closure in 2003 by ordering the overnight destruction of its runway.
Northerly Island, owned by the Chicago Park District, is the only lakefront structure to be built based on Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago. The Plan of Chicago had no provision for air service. The island was to be populated by trees and grass for the public enjoyment by all. Northerly Island was also the site of the Century of Progress (1933–34) in Chicago. Chicago's first airplane flight took place in 1910 in Grant Park, adjacent to Northerly Island, with an international aeronautical exhibition at the same location in 1911. Then, in 1918, regular air mail service to Grant Park began. Nonetheless, Grant Park was unsuitable for the city's growing aviation needs.
Burnham died in 1912. By 1916, Edward H. Bennett, co-author of the Plan of Chicago, wrote that a lakefront location would be most suitable for an airport serving the central business district. In 1920, Chicagoans approved a bond referendum to pay for landfill construction of the peninsula, and in 1922 construction began. That same year Mayor William Hale Thompson recommended locating the downtown airport there. A few years later the Chicago South Park Commission voted in agreement. In 1928, the Chicago Association of Commerce, representing the business community, also advocated for the lakefront airport.
The Great Depression put numerous civic plans on hold, including the airport. Construction continued on the peninsula itself, with the 1933 World's Fair occupying the just-completed peninsula. In the 1930s, the Chicago City Council and Illinois State Legislature passed resolutions to create the airport, but both the poor economy and World War II intervened.
Almost immediately after World War II, in 1946, airport construction began. That same year the Illinois state legislature deeded 24 acres (9.7 ha) of adjacent lake bottom to Chicago for additional landfill, to make the property large enough for a suitable runway. Aviation technology had advanced rapidly during World War II. The airport opened on December 10, 1948, in a grand ceremony.