Milwaukee County's First Airport

One of the earliest publicly owned airports in the United States was established here on July 3, 1919, by the Milwaukee County Park Commission. The nation’s first commercial air transport, the Lawson Airliner, took off from this field on August 27, 1919, on a demonstration flight to New York City and Washington, D.C., and returned on November 14, 1919. This two-engined biplane, 95 feet in wingspan, carried 16 passengers and two pilots. Milwaukee’s first airmail was flown from here on June 7, 1926, by the Charles Dickinson line, operating from Chicago to St. Paul via Milwaukee and La Crosse. This airport was deactivated during November, 1926, when the need for more space led the County to purchase Hamilton Airport, the site of present General Mitchell Field.

Wauwatosa, Wisconsin · United States