Although the ownership and management of the nation's air carrier airports continues under a variety of models, the public authority became a popular option following World War II. Beginning in 1947, the St. Louis region witnessed repeated attempts to place the area's air carrier and general aviation airports under a single metropolitan airport authority, one that would operate not only in Missouri but Illinois as well. A number of potential models for action existed. After many attempts, however, the ownership and management of the airports in the St. Louis region remained fragmented, with many overlapping layers.
The exact boundaries/scope of the St. Louis metropolitan region have changed over time and even witness variations at any given time. For example, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget defines the region as consisting of twelve counties (seven in Missouri and five in Illinois), while the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, a regional council of governments, draws its members from only eight counties (five in Missouri and three in Illinois).
2.
Governmental Research Institute, "The Municipal Airport Problem in St. Louis: A Report to Mayor A. P. Kaufmann," (St. Louis, MO: Governmental Research Institute, December 1947), 3, 1-10.
3.
See Gail Radford , "From Municipal Socialism to Public Authorities: Institutional Factors in the Shaping of American Public Enterprise," The Journal of American History90 (December 2003): 863-90.
4.
For an overview of the history of urban regionalism in the United States, see Bruce Katz, ed., Reflections on Regionalism (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2000). Especially helpful in that volume are the editor's introduction and the chapter by Robert Fishman detailing the history of both regionalism and the metropolitan ideal in the United States. As explained by Fishman, these began as quite distinct concepts but by the 1960s and 1970s, had evolved to the point that they were used interchangeably. See Robert Fishman, "The Death and Life of American Regional Planning," in Reflections on Regionalism, ed. Bruce Katz (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2000), 107-23. For a contemporary examination of regional initiatives, see Joseph F. Zimmerman, "The Metropolitan Area Problem," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 416 (November 1974): 133-47.
5.
Wendell E. Pritchett and Mark H. Rose, "Introduction: Politics and the American City, 1940-1990," Journal of Urban History34 (January 2008): 210.
6.
For an example of local interests defeating a regional initiative, see Louise Nelson Dyble , "The Defeat of the Golden Gate Authority: A Special District, a Council of Governments, and the Fate of Regional Planning in the San Francisco Bay Area," The Journal of Urban History34 (January 2008): 287-308.
7.
Ibid, 215.
8.
See David Phillip Brodherson, "What Can't Go Up Can't Come Down: The History of American Airport Policy, Planning, and Design" (PhD diss., Cornell University, 1993); and Deborah Gwen Douglas, "The Invention of Airports: A Political, Economic and Technical History of Airports in the United States, 1919-1939" (PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1996). Both have also published from their dissertations. See David Brodherson, "`An Airport in Every City': The History of American Airport Design," in Building for Air Travel: Architecture and Design for Commercial Aviation, ed. John Zukowsky (Munich and New York: Art Institute of Chicago and Prestel-Verlag, 1996), 67-95; and Deborah G. Douglas, "Airports as Systems and Systems of Airports: Airports and Urban Development in America before World War II," in From Airships to Airbus: The History of Civil and Commercial Aviation, Volume I: Infrastructure and Environment, ed. William M. Leary (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1995), 55-84.
9.
For examples of published works, see Betsy Braden and Paul Hagen, A Dream Takes Flight: Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport and Aviation in Atlanta (Atlanta: Atlanta Historical Society; Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 1989); Janet R. Daly Bednarek, "False Beacon: Regional Planning and the Location of Dayton's Municipal Airport," Ohio History 106 (Summer/Autumn, 1997): 125-45; Paul Stephen Demsey, Andrew R. Goetz, and Joseph S. Szyliowicz, Denver International Airport: Lessons Learned (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996); Robert B. Fairbanks, "A Clash of Priorities: The Federal Government and Dallas Airport Development, 1917-1964," in American Cities and Towns: Historical Perspectives, ed. Joseph F. Rishel (Pittsburgh, PA.: Duquesne University Press, 1992), 164-84; Robert B. Fairbanks, "Responding to the Airplane: Urban Rivalry, Metropolitan Regionalism, and Airport Development in Dallas, 1927-1965," in Technical Knowledge in American Culture: Science, Technology, and Medicine Since the Early 1800s, ed. H. Craven, A. I. Marcus, and D. Katzman (Tuscaloosa, AL, and London: University of Alabama Press, 1996), 171-88; Paul D. Friedman, "Birth of an Airport: From Mine Field to Los Angeles International: L.A. Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Its Airport," Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society 23 (winter, 1978): 285-93; Douglas Karsner, "Aviation and Airports: The Impact on the Economic and Geographic Structure of American Cities, 1940s-1980s," Journal of Urban History 23 (May 1997): 406-36; Jeff Miller, Stapleton International Airport: The First Fifty Years (Boulder, CO: Pruett, 1983); and Leslie Valentine, "The Development of the Omaha Municipal Airport," Nebraska History 62 (Winter, 1981): 401-20.
10.
See Alastair Gordon, Naked Airport: A Cultural History of the World's Most Revolutionary Structure (New York: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, 2004); and John Zukowsky, ed., Building for Air Travel: Architecture and Design for Commercial Aviation (Munich and New York: Art Institute of Chicago and Prestel-Verlag, 1996).
11.
For examples of their work, see Paul Barrett, "Cities and Their Airports: Policy Formation, 1926-1952," Journal of Urban History 14 (November, 1987): 112-37; Paul Barrett and Mark Rose, "Street Smarts: The Politics of Transportation Statistics in the American City," Journal of Urban History 25 (March, 1999): 405-33; and Paul Barrett, Mark Rose, and Bruce E. Seely, The Best Transportation System in the World: Railroads, Trucks, Airlines and American Public Policy in the Twentieth Century (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2006).
12.
Janet R. Daly Bednarek, America's Airports: Airfield Development, 1918-1947 (College Park: Texas A&M University Press, 2001).
13.
See Bednarek, America's Airports, 15-18, 27-38, 50-63, 100-6.
14.
Stewart International Airport in New York came under private management in 2000 when New York State awarded a ninety-nine-year lease to a British company. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey took over the remaining years of that lease in 2007 in an effort to step up development of Stewart as an international airport. The British Airport Authority managed the Indianapolis International Airport under a multiyear management agreement, but the Indianapolis Airport Authority terminated that contract in late 2007.
15.
This information is drawn from data available on the Web site of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The data used were sorted by All FAA Regions, All Districts, All States, All Counties, All Cities, Public Use Facilities, and Certified (Part 139 Certification). Airports in U.S. territories and possessions-American Samoa, Saipan, Guam, Midway, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands- are not included in the totals, only airports in the fifty states. The title of the data set is "Airport Data (5010) & Contact Information," http://www.faa.gov/airports_airtraffic/ airports/airport_safety/airportdata_ 5010/menu/index.cfm (accessed May 23, 2007). The Web site for the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority indicates that "all property"-meaning basically the two airports-was transferred to the authority. It further states that the federal government continues to hold title to the lease. The FAA lists the Metropolitan Airport Authority as the owner of the airports. See "Airport Data (5010) & Contact Information," http://www.metwashairports.com/about_the_authority/history (accessed August 20, 2008).
16.
Ibid. The information determining the top fifty airports in the United States is drawn from the FAA Web site. Again, airports in U.S. territories and possessions were excluded. "CY 2006 Primary and Non-Primary Commercial Service Airports" (updated October 18, 2007), http://www.faa.gov/ airports_airtraffic/airports/planning_capacity/passenger_allcargo_stats/passenger/media/cy06_ primary_np_comm.pdf (accessed May 29, 2008).
17.
The St. Louis Downtown Airport is located in Illinois. It is owned and operated by the Bi-State Development Agency. "Airport Data (5010) & Contact Information."
18.
"Airport Data (5010) & Contact Information."
19.
See Fairbanks, "Responding to the Airplane," 172-88.
20.
"Airport Data (5010) & Contact Information." Additional information on airport ownership by these authorities came from their individual Web sites: http://www.mspairport.com/mac/organization/ default.apx; http://www.orlandoairports.net/main.htm; http://www.portseattle.org/; http://www.massport .com/airports/; http://www.kentoncounty.org/boards_and_commissions/kenton_county_airport_ board.html; http://www.tampaairport.com/about/administration/mission_vision.asp; http://www.san .org/Airport_Authority/idex.asp; http://www.portofoakland.com; http://www.portofportland.com/PDX_ home.aspx; http://www.mscaa.com/history.htm; http://www.flypittsburgh.com/AboutUsServle?option= acaa_background#; http://www.rdu.com/aboutrdu/history.htm; http://www.nashintl.com/about/history_ mnaa.aspx (all accessed May 24, 2007).
21.
Radford, "From Municipal Socialism to Public Authorities," 864. For other works dealing with the history of public authorities in the United States, see Eric H. Monkkonen, The Local State: Public Money and American Cities (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1985); and Alberta M. Sbragia, Debt Wish: Entrepreneurial Cities, U.S. Federalism, and Economic Development (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996).
22.
Radford, "From Municipal Socialism to Public Authorities," 867-8.
23.
Ibid, 873-88.
24.
The precondition that the airport be self-sustaining was quite important. Revenue bonds could only be issued when there was revenue.
25.
Although laws enabling the creation of airport authorities were passed in a number of states, including Massachusetts, California, and Florida, Illinois had the first legislation that actually resulted in the creation of an airport authority. Charles Rhyne, Airports and the Courts (Washington: National Institute of Municipal Law Officers, 1944), 44; and "The Springfield Airport Authority," The American City 62 (February 1947): 73.
26.
For a more detailed discussion of airport development by park departments in general and of how and why the Minneapolis airport was developed by its park commission, see Janet R. Bednarek, "The Flying Machine in the Garden: Parks and Airports, 1918-1938," Technology and Culture 46 (April 2005): 350-73.
27.
Quoted in Rhyne, Airports and the Courts, 41.
28.
For a more detailed discussion of the municipal airport competition in the New York area, see Bednarek, America's Airports, 106-14.
29.
Jameson W. Doig , Empire on the Hudson: Entrepreneurial Vision and Political Power at the Port of New York Authority ( New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), 262-81.
30.
Radford, " From Municipal Socialism to Public Authorities, 885-7.
31.
Governmental Research Institute, "The Municipal Airport Problem in St. Louis," 5.
32.
Ibid., 3, 8-10.
33.
Ibid., 6, 10-11.
34.
Thomas Frank Hadac, "Bi-State St. Louis: Factors Significant to the Emergence of a Governing Leadership for the Missouri-Illinois Metropolitan Area, 1949-1965" (PhD diss., Princeton University, February 1975), 31-50.
35.
Ibid., 38-39.
36.
Ibid., 44-46, 50-67.
37.
For a discussion of early airport planning ideas, including the notion of specialized airports, see Janet R. Daly Bednarek, "City Planning and Municipal Airports, 1927-1940, "Planning Perspectives15 (October 2000): 349-75.
38.
See, for example, City Airport Commission "Minutes," September 11, 1953, Box 25, File: Airport Commission, City of St. Louis, Office of the Mayor-Files of Raymond Tucker, Series 1, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, 2-3.
39.
For examples, see City Airport Commission, "Minutes," May 2, 1960, Box 29, File: Airport Commission, April 1959-, Tucker Papers, Series 2, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, 3; City Airport Commission, "Minutes," July 9, 1963, Box 3, File: Airport Commission-Minutes of Meetings and Agenda, January 1, 1963-, Tucker Papers, Series 3, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, 2-4; and City Airport Commission, "Minutes," September 30, 1965, Box 4, File: Airport Commission-Minutes of Meetings, City of St. Louis, Office of the Mayor-Files of Alfonso J. Cervantes, Series 1, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, 2-4.
40.
"Joint News Release," February 18, 1961, Box 8, File: City-County Airport Commission, Tucker Papers, Series 2, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri; and A. J. Cervantes, Mr. Mayor (Los Angeles: Nash Publishing, 1974), 140.
41.
John F. Infanger, "Downtown Rebound," Airport Business18 (October 2004 ): 12-15.
42.
Walter J. Malloy, "What St. Louis Is Doing about Airports," presented at the Symposium on Airport Planning, St. Louis, Missouri, May 18, 1968, typewritten manuscript, Box 4, File: Airport Commission, Cervantes Papers, Series 1, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, 12.
43.
City Airport Commission, "Minutes," December 14, 1966, Box 4, File: Airport Commission- Minutes of Meetings, Cervantes Papers, Series 1, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, 2.
44.
City Airport Commission, "Minutes," June 6, 1967, Box 4, File: Airport Commission, Cervantes Papers, Series 1, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, 2-3.
45.
"Statement by Mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes," East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, Subcommittee on Airports, August 23, 1967, typewritten, Box 5, File: Lambert-St. Louis Municipal Airport, Cervantes Papers, Series 1, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri; Governmental Research Institute, "Should a Metropolitan Airport Authority Be Established for the St. Louis Area? A Report for the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council," June 1968, Box 3, Folder 42, Regional Commerce and Growth Association Records, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, Thomas Jefferson Library, University of Missouri-St. Louis; "Statement by Mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes," January 29, 1969, typewritten, Box 5, File: Lambert-St. Louis Municipal Airport, no. 2, Cervantes Papers, Series 1, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri; and St. Louis Regional Industrial Development Corporation, "News Release," no. 2-69-2, Box 5, File: Lambert-St. Louis Municipal Airport, no. 1, Cervantes Papers, Series 1, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.
46.
Cervantes, Mr. Mayor, 142-44.
47.
Office of the Governor, Warren E. Hearnes, "News Release," August 20, 1971, Box 9, File: Metropolitan Airport (New East Side Airport), Cervantes Papers, Series 2, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.
48.
Cervantes, Mr. Mayor, 143-44; "Board Bill no. 46," mimeo copy, Box 8, File: New Airport, August 1972, Cervantes Papers, Series 2, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri; House Bill no. 1341, 76th General Assembly, "An Act Relating to the Missouri-St. Louis Metropolitan Airport Authority, with penalty provisions and with an emergency clause," Xerox copy, Box 9, File: Airport, January 1972, Cervantes Papers, Series 2, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri; and letter from A. J. Cervantes to Honorable Milton F. Suetanics, Jr., May 24, 1972, Box 9, File: Airport, January 1972, Cervantes Papers, Series 2, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.
49.
Hadac, "Bi-State St. Louis," 30-31; "Senator Symington Asks Volpe to Slam Brakes on Airport Decision," St. Louis Globe-Democrat, December 19, 1971, Box 11, File: Airport, August 1971, Cervantes Papers, Series 2, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri; and Cervantes, Mr. Mayor, 145-49.
50.
For examples detailing Roos's opposition, see "Roos Charges Cervantes Misleading on Airport," St. Louis Globe-Democrat, December 19, 1971; and Office of Governor Warren E. Hearnes, "News Release," August 16, 1971, Box 9, File: Metropolitan Airport (New East Side Airport), Cervantes Papers, Series 2, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.
51.
Letter from John L. Gillis, Chairman, Citizens for Missouri Airport, to Alderman Woodson, December 15, 1971, Box 8, File: New Airport, November 1971, Cervantes Papers, Series 2, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri; and cover letter and attachment, "Emergency Meeting," Citizens for Missouri Airport, Box 41, Folder 887, Robert Young Papers, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, Thomas Jefferson Library, University of Missouri-St. Louis.
52.
"`Effort to Steal' Lambert," St. Louis Globe-Democrat , September 13, 1972.
53.
See Board of Directors, Downtown St. Louis, Inc., "St. Louis as an Aerial Gateway: The Heart of the Problem," July 31, 1972, typewritten, Box 8, File: New Airport, January 1972, Cervantes Papers, Series 2, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.
54.
Hadac, "Bi-State St. Louis ," 275-78.
55.
See "Statement, Mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes," July 27, 1971, Box 9, File: St. Louis Metropolitan Airport-New East Side Airport, Cervantes Papers, Series 2, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri; "Remarks, Mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes at Airport Public Hearing," October 18, 1971, Box 9, File: St. Louis Metropolitan Airport-New East Side Airport, Cervantes Papers, Series 2, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.
56.
For an analysis of the laws creating the two competing airport authorities, see League of Women Voters of St. Louis, "City Redevelopment: The Airport," September 1973, Box 3, File: Lambert-St. Louis Airport-January 1975, City of St. Louis, Office of the Mayor-Files of John H. Poelker, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri).
57.
"Statement, Mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes," November 8, 1972, Box 9, File: Airport, January 1972, Cervantes Papers, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri; and Cervantes, Mr. Mayor, 149-50.
58.
Letter with enclosure from Harry B. Wilson, Civic Progress, Inc., to the Members of Civic Progress, June 6, 1973, Box 2, File: Lambert-St. Louis Municipal Airport, April 1973-, Poelker Papers, Series 1, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri; and Mayor John H. Poelker, "News Release," October 2, 1973, Box 2, File: Lambert-St. Louis Municipal Airport, August 1, 1973-, Poelker Papers, Series 1, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.
59.
Saint Louis Regional Commerce & Growth Association, "Report of Airport Issue Committee of St. Louis Regional Commerce and Growth Association," November 10, 1975, Box 41, File 890, Robert Young Papers, Thomas Jefferson Library, University of Missouri-St. Louis; Mayor John H. Poelker, "Comment on RCGA Airport Report," November 11, 1975, Box 3, File: Lambert-St. Louis Airport, May 1975-, Poelker Papers, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri; and "Statement, Mayor John H. Poelker," November 11, 1975, Box 3, File: Lambert-St. Louis Airport, May 1975, Poelker Papers, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.
60.
Mayor John H. Poelker, "Comment on RCGA Airport Report," November 11, 1975, Box 3, File: Lambert-St. Louis Airport May 1975-, Poelker Papers, Series 1, University Archives, West Campus Library, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.
61.
Office of the Secretary, Department of Transportation News, "Grant Approved to Acquire Land for New Airport at Columbia-Waterloo," September 1, 1976, Box 41, Folder 888, Young Papers, Thomas Jefferson Library, University of Missouri -St. Louis.
62.
Secretary of Transportation, " Decision of Brock Adams, Secretary of Transportation, on Federal Funding of Land Acquisition for New Airport to Serve the St. Louis Region," March 30, 1977, Box 40, File 886, Young Papers, Thomas Jefferson Library, University of Missouri-St. Louis.
63.
Memo to Mayor Schoemehl from Jim Brown, re: Missouri-St. Louis Metropolitan Airport Authority, June 29, 1988, Box 16, File: 10:00 mtg., re: Airport, June 1988, Vincent C. Schoemehl Papers, Third Term, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, Thomas Jefferson Library, University of Missouri-St. Louis; and e-mail correspondence from Joseph R. Nieman, Legal Department, Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, to author, June 5, 2007.
64.
For a discussion of this renewed interest in regionalism, see Katz, Reflections on Regionalism, 1-8; and Janice C. Griffith, "Regional Governance Reconsidered," Journal of Law and Politics 21 (2005): 505-59.
65.
Cindy Kadlec , Staff Attorney, "Final Report from the Senate Interim Committee on Regional Control of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport" (February 2003), http://www.senate.mo.gov/04info/comm/interim/lambert.pdf (accessed August 20, 2008).
66.
E-mail correspondence from Joseph R. Nieman, Legal Department, Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, to author, May 23, 2007.
67.
It is beyond the scope of this article to detail federal efforts to support or even compel regional responses to airport capacity issues. For an example of such a federal effort, see Fairbanks, "A Clash of Priorities."
68.
http://www.lawa.org/lawa.cfm; http://www.dallascityhall.com/aviation/aviation.html; and http://www .fortworth.org/aviation/ (all accessed May 24, 2007).
