PFT Stories

Houston's First Airport

"The first airmail into Houston started in 1928," said Drew Coats of the Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society. "Today, it serves what could now be thought of as Hobby Airport. In 1928, it was a field and farm, owned by W.T. Carter. Airmail evolved quickly. From 1928, aircrafts included fabric covered biplanes and open cock-pit biplanes. The few brave passengers that would have been carried by airmail most likely would have been riding in an open cock-pit sitting on a sack of mail."

Soon there were various airports around Houston.

"South-Main would have been a contemporary in this field. It was located approximately where Rice University is today," Coats said. "Sam Houston came a little bit later—it was further down Main Street near the vicinity of Old Spanish Trail. In the '20s, you really didn't need much to have an airport. Airplanes didn't use very much runway for take-offs and landings. In fact, most airplanes didn't use runways at all! You would try to take off into the wind, and so ideally, you'd have a big square or round field and you took off whichever way the wind was blowing!"

The city of Houston finally determined to own its own airport.

"At first the debate was whether Houston should own its own airport," Coats said. "Later the debate turned into which airport the city of Houston should own. The leading contenders were the South Main Airport and this airport. The argument against the city buying this airport was that it was so far from downtown no one would ever want to drive this far to get to the airport. But ultimately, this was the site that won out. In 1937, Houston bought this airport with a bond issue from the Carter family."

Amenities were nonexistent.

"When the city bought the airport in 1937, there was already airline service here," Coats said. "The airmail carriers had evolved into the early airlines, but unfortunately, there wasn't what we would recognize today as an air terminal.  There was a little wood-framed building resembled a house—some even compared the resemblance to that of a hamburger stand. It was small, a story and a half, and they had added a catwalk and a rudimentary tower. There wasn't much to it and it certainly didn't hold much volume in the way of passengers."

Air passengers in the 1930s were special folks.

"Anyone arriving in the city by air was, by definition, VIP," Coats said. "Traveling by airline was very expensive, and not to mention, revolutionary technology for the time."

According to John Graves of the 1940 Air Terminal Museum, "The average dress was more sophisticated, as it was a significantly more formal time period.  Ladies traveled in their best suits, wearing gloves and hats. A red carpet would be laid out for passengers boarding the plane, which was the definitive indicator that something special was about to take place. You'd be lead to your aircraft on this red carpet and up air-stairs, which were portable stairways onto the aircraft with railings on either side."

Houston wanted to make a good impression.

"The cities that had airline services knew that it was extremely beneficial to own an airport, as to welcome wealthy and important VIP visitors into your city," Coats said. "This is why Houston commissioned Joseph Enger to design its first grand air terminal."

According to David Bush of the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance, "In 1938, Joseph Enger received the contract to design the current terminal building. Construction for the building began in 1939, and on September 28, 1940, the grand opening for the Houston Municipal Airport took place. Houston was concerned with the modern, stream-lined feel of the air terminal.  Enger had designed the terminal to feel state-of –the-art, stream-lined in every way. Clean, sharp, industrial and modern." 

The terminal was state of the art, in spite of serving a limited number of flights, at first.

"On September 28, 1940, when the 1940 air terminal opened, there were only two – Eastern and Braniff, both of which who had been here in various forms for the better part of the '30s."

Even thought there were limited flights, there was a barber shop, a restaurant, a weather office, a meteorological room and weather balloon storage room and an overnight bunk room for pilots and crews, according to Bush.

New airlines were added including Mid-Continent and Trans-Texas.

"In 1940, you'd be seeing DC-2's and the very popular DC-3's, which ended up being the aircrafts that essentially made the aviation business a financial success," Coats said. "Runways were not laid out, but were made of crushed shell and gravel. This runway was functional during times of predictably normal weather conditions, but failed to be effective when rain would become muddied under the powerful DC-2'S. Eddie Rickenbacker came to Houston in response to this problem and addressed City Council, dictating that a paved runway would be the only style runway that could support the latest and greatest of technological aircrafts."

The 1940 terminal and airport were outdated almost from the start.

In 1940, the terminal's stream-lined appearance and many modern conveniences was cheapened by the absurdly short length of the runway. Passengers would exit the plane only to be at the end of the runway and at the opposite end of the terminal. Taxi cabs would be called to escort passengers back to the building so that they could continue onto their next destination. Ultimately, aviation grew exponentially and a second terminal was built in order to satisfy the growing number of people traveling by airplane.  When World War II began, a third airline began serving Houston.  This era forced Americans to travel by plane, whether they would have considered it or not, prior to 1941.  The war effort became cause for millions of people to move from one part of the country to another very quickly to support, defend, and fight for the United States. Because of the immense amount of pressure to satisfy the growing number of individuals needing to travel by plane, a third air terminal was constructed on the north side of the field (1954).

Today you can visit the 1940 air terminal as a growing museum, near the Hobby Airport.

If you have aviation memorabilia from the time that this terminal was in use, contact us.