Municipal Airport
By 1926, Syracuse Mayor Charles Hanna felt that the city needed an airport to enhance its economic future. The city scouted a number of small airports in the area, including Bethka Field (near the intersection of Thompson Rd. and James St. in the city proper) and Nedrow Field in nearby Nedrow, NY. The city finally decided upon the Amboy Airport and purchased it from Camillus for $50,000. After its official opening in 1927, Mayor Hanna put the airfield under the direction of the City Parks Department.
After being purchased by the city, the airport gained popularity. The first airmail was delivered in 1929. In the following years before World War II, the airport featured appearances by many world famous pilots including Charles Lindbergh and his Spirit of St. Louis airplane in 1927, Will Rogers and Wiley Post in 1931, General Jimmy Doolittle in 1932, Amelia Earhart in 1936, Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan in 1938; as well as celebrities Kate Smith and Lowell Thomas.
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Famous quotes containing the words municipal and/or airport:
“No sane local official who has hung up an empty stocking over the municipal fireplace, is going to shoot Santa Claus just before a hard Christmas.”
—Alfred E. Smith (1873–1944)
“Airplanes are invariably scheduled to depart at such times as 7:54, 9:21 or 11:37. This extreme specificity has the effect on the novice of instilling in him the twin beliefs that he will be arriving at 10:08, 1:43 or 4:22, and that he should get to the airport on time. These beliefs are not only erroneous but actually unhealthy.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950)