Neighborhood News: Flying Chicago’s Friendly Skies…A (Very) Brief History of Aviation in Chicago
Now the largest hub in the Midwest, Chicago’s aviation history began early in the commercial flight era.
According to the Aviation Chicago blog, Chicago got its first airline service back at the dawn of aviation.
In the beginning…
In the early 1900’s, after Wilbur and Orville Wright achieved flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Aero Clubs sprouted throughout the United States.
In Illinois, commercial flight began as the brainchild of Aero Club President Harold F. McCormick and Jack Vilas, who was the first person to fly across Lake Michigan when he completed a 64 mile over-the-water flight from Silver Beach Amusement Park in St. Joseph, Michigan, to Chicago in 1913. Together with other investors, they formed Lake Shore Airlines in May, 1914 and began their first scheduled flights the next month.
The airline, according to the website, served three destinations: Lake Forest, Grant Park, and the South Shore Country Club. Both McCormick and Vilas owned Curtiss Model F hydroaeroplanes, and both were used by the airline. Back then, tickets were a whopping $10, which is approximately $317.67 today. The author believes that Lake Shore Airlines was only the second airline started in the U.S. (The first was a line serving the Tampa-Ft. Lauderdale area.)
However, the open-cockpit aircraft made of wood and fabric made for a complicated, perhaps stomach-churning landing off of Lake Michigan. Those who could afford tickets didn’t appreciate it, especially in bad weather, and Lake Shore Airlines was gone by the end of the year.
Second Generation: Delivering the mail and the growth of commercial flight
According to the Encyclopedia of Chicago, the roots of aviation is in the transport of mail for the U.S. Post Office. By the 1920’s, the website notes the Post Office contracted with fledgling airline companies to fly mail throughout the country. Chicago was a pivotal location from the earliest establishment of the Contract Air Mail routes. Charles Lindbergh himself made his mark as an air mail carrier, providing service between St. Louis and Chicago (Maywood Field), with intermediate stops in Springfield and Peoria, long before his history-making non-stop transatlantic flight to Paris in 1927.
Development of the early commercial airline industry grew from a combination of a federal infrastructure of navigation systems and regulations, local boosterism, and private investment.
Part Three: World”s Busiest Airport(s)
Inthe 1920s and 1930s, according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago History, Chicago communities built airports as a matter of civic pride and attracted private airline companies by promising modern facilities and room for expansion. Chicago Municipal Airport was built in 1927 to replace Maywood Field, the airstrip used for airmail. That year, Municipal Airport was a single cinder runway with one square mile of land available for expansion 10 miles southwest of downtown. By 1929, the airport maintained its own post office, stationed a division of the Illinois National Guard, and handled 32 arrivals and departures of passengers, mail, and cargo daily. Municipal Airport cost 10 million dollars to develop.
By 1932, it was the busiest airport in the nation and for years claimed the title of ‘World’s Busiest Airport.’ In 1949, Municipal Airport was renamed Midway Airport to commemorate the famous battle in the Pacific.
In 1946, the city purchased over a thousand acres of land northwest of the city. O’Hare opened its 24-million-dollar terminal for commercial passenger traffic in 1955, soon usurping Midway’s title of ‘World’s Busiest Airport.’
According to Simple Flying, Chicago O’Hare International Airport operates as the fourth busiest in the United States and the 5th most connected airport in the world, serving just under 75 million passengers in 2024.
How far we’ve come …as we take our children to Spring Break destinations far and wide, imagine where we’d be without access to the air!
Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago
