Famous aviator Amelia Earhart landed on an airfield near here on November 14, 1931, while piloting a Beechnut Autogiro on a nationwide tour promoting Beechnut Products. Shortly after completing this tour, she made her famous solo flight across the Atlantic, flying from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, to Londonberry, Ireland, on May 20, 1932. The airfield where Earhart landed was the original Anderson County Airport, founded in 1928 on the highest land Anderson County owned, a mere grass strip originally planned as an emergency landing field. It later became a joint city-county facility where planes delivering air mail landed, and it functioned until land for the current airport on Highway 24 was purchased and developed in the mid 1930's.