On May 9, 1931, land in Orange City was donated to the Betsy Ross Air Corps, a pre-World War II organization of female pilots, for the Betsy Ross Airport, the nation’s only airport entirely owned and operated by women. Created as a place where female pilots could learn to fly and improve their skills, the 160-acre site included Arawana Lodge in its northeast corner, serving as the Corps regional headquarters and a vacation place for pilots. Orange City’s Dr. Frances Dickinson, an educator, woman’s rights advocate, ophthalmologist, club woman, and flyer, realized the vision, gift, and construction because she believed female pilots lacked equal opportunity in the growing field of aviation. By 1932, she had completed one 1,000-foot runway and a 600-foot central axis designed to serve seven more runways. On January 13, 1932, the Betsy Ross Air Corp’s National Commander, Opal Kunz, and Lt. Commander, Lillian Perkins, assumed operations and continued development of the airfield. The Betsy Ross Air Corps existed only from 1931 to 1933 and was never formally recognized by the U.S. Military. Dickinson secured Florida Federal Emergency Relief Administration funding in December 1934 to complete the airport’s construction, and by 1935 Volusia County signed a five-year lease to use it as an emergency landing field. After World War II, the airfield was renamed the DeLand-Orange City Airport. In January 1945, J. Wade Coleman of Orange State Flying Services leased the field to operate an educational facility and contracted with Stetson University to provide flight training that supplemented the university’s aviation ground school courses. Before Dickinson’s death on May 19, 1945, four women earned their solo pilot’s licenses there. The field remained an active private airfield until a television tower was built over its western edge in the mid-1960s. Portions of the former airfield are now home to Manatee Cove Elementary and River Springs Middle School, and the Compass Landing Subdivision honors the legacy of Betsy Ross Airport and Dr. Frances Dickinson’s vision to advance women fliers.