The Flying Machine in the Garden: Parks and Airports, 1918-1938

The story of the connection between airports and parks during the 1920s and 1930s weaves together a number of threads in the history of land use and the history of technology. Over time the definition of "park" transformed from idealized rural landscape to a location for multiple forms of recreation. At its introduction, while some emphasized more practical uses for the new machine, others saw the airplane as a source of mass entertainment. With the new definition of parks and the entertainment use of the airplane in mind, many proposed that park land could be used for aviation purposes. Though a certain degree of expediency also was involved, arguments based on the compatibility of parks and airports shaped the initial establishment of airports in a number of American cities, including Omaha, Nebraska, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Events in those cities represented the extreme on a continuum of action present during the 1920s and 1930s, with Omaha representing a short-term link and Minneapolis a more long-term and successful relationship.