When Daniel Burnham drew up his famed plan of Chicago(only a scant six years after the flight of the Wright Brothers), he neglected to include any provisions for an airport to serve the city. So when airplanes started to be used more often, the city fathers were in a bind. At first, they merely directed the planes to land in Grant Park. In the aftermath of an airship accident in The Loop that cost the lives of several people, aircraft takeoffs/landings were banned from the downtown area. In 1920, plans were made to extend the landfill of an island south of Grant Park(right next to where the Adler Planetarium is now located). Two years later, Mayor William Thompson approved plans to locate an airport on the landfill site. However, construction was soon interrupted, first by the Great Depression, and then again by World War II. Soon after the War had ended, construction of the airfield had finally begun.
The airport was opened in 1948, and was renamed on June 30, 1950 in honor of Merrill C. Meigs, a local publisher and advocate of aviation. By the 1970s, the field had become the busiest single-strip airfield in the nation, and was also becoming instrumental in the field of medical aviation, as its convenient downtown location placed it as the closest airport to many of the city's hospitals. In addition to its vital medical role, Meigs also served several regional commuter airlines, mainly to cities such as Springfield or Carbondale. One of the largest airplanes to ever use the strip(and the largest to ever use it on a regular basis) was a 44-seat turboprop plane operated by Air Illinois. However, the largest aircraft to ever land at Meigs was a Boeing 727 that touched down on October 15, 1992, destined for display at the Museum of Science and Industry(alongside the Pioneer Zephyr and the U-505).
The airline proved convenient for VIP visits, such as when the President came to town. In a typical case, Air Force One would land at one of the larger airports, and then the POTUS would board a helicopter bound for Meigs, thus eliminating the hassle of having to use ground transport between the airport and the city. In 1994, Mayor Richard M. Daley announced his desire an plan to close down the airport and turn Northerly Island into a park. The plan met resistance, and even though the airfield was closed for a 4-month period starting in October of 1996, pressure from the state legislature kept Meigs open. In 2001, the city, state, and federal government agreed to keep the airport open until 2026.
This did not sit well with Dear Leader Daley, and so in his most brazen display of political thuggery, he sent out city crews on the night of March 30, 2003 to destroy the runway by cutting giant X signs into the surface. Not only was this in flagrant violation of FAA rules(which required at least 30 days notice before closing an airport), but the move also stranded 16 airplanes on the runway. The planes were able to flee the airport via Meigs' taxiway. The next morning, Daley held a news conference where he deemed his move the only way that would have worked, as "[doing] this any other way would have been needlessly contentious." In the aftermath, the city was fined $33,000 for destroying the runway, plus it had to repay another $1 Million in FAA funds. Nowadays, the former site of Meigs Field is the home of Northerly Island Park and the Charter One Pavilion, where you can see any number of concerts throughout the course of the year.
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