Chicago's Old Downtown Airport

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Northerly Island is a 91- acre peninsula that juts into Lake Michigan at the heart of the Museum Campus. It is located just south of the Adler Planetarium and east of Soldier Field.
This use to be the site of Meigs Field Airport until 2003 when the Mayor of Chicago ordered the site to be destroyed. This story provides and interesting glimpse into the political workings of a former City of Chicago.
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Опубликовано:

17 окт 2024

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Комментарии : 85

@timcutright7527 5 лет назад

Meigs Field was a very important airfield used by large corporations in Chicago and the country. With thousands of flights annually it generated 57+million of dollars in revenue for Chicago annually from both jets, private planes , and aircraft services. Corporate executives loved Meig's for its close location to business offices downtown. They could be downtown in a few minutes versus 30 to 45+ from Midway and then fly back home. Business deals worth many millions were conducted in Chicago because of the conveience of Meig's location. The business community and AOPA ; with litigation tried to save Meigs but the corrupt court system and Mayor Daily had this crazy belief that the city needed another park. --Then one night with No warnings (Notams-- The FAA wasn't even notified) ; the demolition of the runway began at midnight with the mayors orders; With inbound aircraft having to divert to the other airports !! It happened !! It would be interesting to find out how much business and jobs has been lost. Meigs was built with funding from the FAA which Chicago had to repay( they got off with a scant 1 million plus) ; The whole thing was crooked. Meigs also created a lot of jobs and inspired people to learn to fly. It would be interesting to see the jobs and corporate money that would come back --If it was Rebuilt... --Tim

@thehomegardener 5 лет назад

I have great memories watching Meigs field. My favorite was watching the coors Light silver bullet practice for the air show. I could not believe my eyes when I saw what had happened on the news.

@GrzegorzKonowalik 5 лет назад

Daily tore up the runway to stick it to the governor of Illinois, since they had a long time feud, and the Airport was pretty much used only for state executives going back and forward between state capital and Chicago

@Eric_A... 3 года назад

illinois 3 governors in prison at the same time

@carstarsarstenstesenn 5 месяцев назад

I won't disagree, but it's worth noting the Chicago Park District, which owned the land, refused to renew the airport lease as far back as 1996

@bazza4u 5 лет назад

Hey there fellow Aussie traveller! I’ve just enjoyed 5 days in Chicago, and your videos really helped me gain an appreciation for Chicago even before I arrived ... great pointers and ideas for places to go and things to see ... better than a lonely planet!!

@coffee8814 Год назад

after miggs destroyed there is nothing pretty left in chicago, its just blacks now. Try texas

@jayshaw63 3 года назад

It was Mayor Richard M. Daily who tore up Meigs Field in the middle of the night. Not to be confused with his father, The Mayor, Richard J. Daily, who wanted to build a third major airport out in Lake Michigan.

@tboss5653 3 года назад

I really wish I could’ve seen this airport, major 16R vibes

@bonecanoe86 6 лет назад

Ah, the default airport in Microsoft Flight Simulator 5.

@williamblake1217 4 года назад

Its on 2020!!

@BMkt04 6 лет назад

Now I learned why they call it Northerly Island even though it's south of the loop. Your videos are very informative! I moved to Chicago a few years ago and I love to discover more things about this great city! Good luck with your future films!

@marcdimauro 4 года назад

Thanks for this short and insightful well thought and directed video! I have somehow learned to "virtual flying" (which helped me learning real flying) at Meigs Field on Microsoft Flight Simulator 2

@barbarakil 6 лет назад

One of my favorite memories when I moved here in the 80s was looking out the big arched windows in Preston Bradley Hall of the Cultural Center and watching as a small plane descended to land at Meigs Field. I thought only in Chicago could I experience such a brilliant marriage of beautiful architecture and amazing technology. Such a shame it is no longer an airport. Yet another decision by fiat to blight our democracy.

@justin_mags 7 лет назад

Great video! love the history research you are doing on Chicago!

@yello62 7 лет назад

i grew up in chicago. one of my memories was citing on the lake near meigs, watching planes approach over the lake to land at meigs.

@yello62 7 лет назад

Chicago Aussie, the city was different then. always been dangerous, but we could do far more, get away with more, experience more. northerly island is a nice addition to the landscape of the city. provides a different kind of wow experience for the residents than the planes did for me.

@derrickobrzut3898 3 месяца назад

@@yello62that park is the most useless thing they did instead keeping that airport open

@kofuzi 7 лет назад

had no idea that's why it's called northerly island. because it's south of city center, it never made sense. now it does

@ShawnClarady 7 лет назад

Love Chicago. So much history known and unknown. We will be back in July.

@YTRulesFromNM 7 лет назад

Meigs Field was the airport in the movie 'Manhunter'. Northerly Island still looks like a land fill. And they can't get anything to grow there. The grass was plush there when it was an airport. What is they do? Did they use soil from Saudi Arabia?

@carstarsarstenstesenn 3 года назад

lol. I actually hope they develop that land more. The park is fine the way it is but there is still space for more buildings that would have beautiful views of the city

@Scooter4Ever 3 года назад

There are now two sections of Northerly Island. The northern section has an amphitheater and a large concrete pad that was created for the unsuccessful Hamilton exhibit. The remaining southern portion is now a nature preserve that is very lush with lots of wildlife.

@ECStout 6 лет назад

Meigs field I remember well, still in operation when I left in the 90's....shame so much of my Chicago is now gone...

@deanc.5984 5 лет назад

was a GREAT airport, bring it back.

@badguy1481 6 лет назад

Amazing! I was born and raised in Chicago...knew Meigs field well..but never heard that story. I guess it takes someone from the other side of the planet to reveal the details of things "close to home". Great job! But the obvious question. HOW did the aircraft owners get their aircraft off and away with the runway dug up? I shudder to think of the MILLIONS tied up in those aircraft that the City of Chicago could have wound up paying for.

@Fitch93 5 лет назад

They took off using the Taxiway that ran adjacent to the airport.

@revokdaryl1 2 года назад

@@Fitch93 I'll confess, I used to deliberately take off using the taxiway at Meigs Field in Microsoft Flight Simulator 4.0 in a Cessna Skylane RG II.

@willymcneal5203 5 лет назад

When I was younger, a lady told me she thinks Jimmy Hoffa is buried there.

@LifeFromMyAngle 7 лет назад

I have to check this place out

@YTRulesFromNM 7 лет назад

It's like visiting a land fill. Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach on the other hand is a park built on a landfill that is actually nice.

@southsidemikevlogs 7 лет назад

turning that into wet land would be good for Chicago because we got so much waste water and and it cost millions to run the big plants that clean the water and the plant doesn't really clean everything out but a wet land would get everything out of are drinking water look it up and see how man made wet lands are cleaning waters and lets work together and get cleaner drinking water

@NoBSB9484 Год назад

I've smoked so much pot at that park, it's just shameful. I went exploring at the site when it was torn up. I have a little chunk of runway.

@CreativeEditorMEW 5 лет назад

The other reason he wanted the airport gone was so that he could get a land based casino, but that is a rumor, and never happened.

@MonkPetite 4 года назад

My favourite airport. How many virtual landing I made on that field is uncountable. 😁

@dtg610420 6 лет назад

The Delys were also horrible crooks

@christopherkomer2982 2 года назад

Landed at Meigs field once. Very scummy thing to do as a mayor and sucks it’s a junky park instead of a beautiful airport

@dtg610420 6 лет назад

Are you from Melbourne?

@badguy1481 6 лет назад

I think he said he was from Sydney in another video?

@AndrewCoffey 7 лет назад

nice job..its quite drab out there.Good for riding a bike around..needs more pizzaz

@HazeGreyAndUnderway 6 лет назад

It's meant to be drab. In the warm months it livens up. It's actually a bird sanctuary

@NOBLEMAK 3 года назад

You need to drop the audio volume for the music, I turned it up because your pieces to camera were quiet and then injected loud music twice. I need new ear drums!!! Basics of editing my friend.

@dsgregg 3 года назад

Northerly Island, where the airport was located, was owned by the Chicago Park District, which refused to renew the airport lease in 1996. ... In 2001, a compromise was reached between Chicago, the State of Illinois, and others to keep the airport open for the next twenty-five years. However, the federal legislation component of the deal did not pass the United States Senate. To put this on Daley is untrue and unfair to Daley.

@carstarsarstenstesenn 3 года назад

do some more research lol. daley destroyed the park because he didn't like the people that were using it (the Governor of IL)

@dsgregg 3 года назад

@@carstarsarstenstesenn You're into rumors. I get it.

@pomerlain8924 2 года назад

He used emergency powers claiming that Meigs Field was a potential target for terrorists to shut it down, when it wasn't. Not to mention, having bulldozers sabotage the airport in the middle of the night with no notice, stranding multiple planes that were parked there and now had no way to fly out. Those pilots had to pay a lot of money to have their planes dismantled so that they could be transported.

@Kathleen-cb9dw 6 лет назад

I will always love Richard M (son of Hizzoner, Richard J. Daley) for plowing up Meigs Field and turning it into this beautiful sanctuary for birds and wildlife indigenous to Chicago. The fatcats with private planes lost one of their perks...who cares! Northerly Island now belongs to everyone. Love you for this, Richard M!

@davidpalmer9780 5 лет назад

My brother and I toured the USA back in 1991 and visited Meigs Field on a cool, late afternoon. We spent about two hours there taking in the sights and sounds of the small airport as the sun set in crystal clear skies with a couple of take-offs and landings by piston engine aircraft. We watched from the top floor observation deck of passenger terminal building. It's a fond memory of our trip that we will never forget. Chicago lost a great commercial asset when that pig headed mayor made that illegal decision to rip up the runway in the dead of night knowing full well the machinery would face no opposition from the protest groups that were trying to save Meigs Field from destruction. You're narrow minded if you believe that the small airport was only their for the wealthy individuals who owned private aircraft. The airport brought bussiness people right to the very doorstep of the city and in doing so also brought businesses to base their national headquarters out of Chicago. I'd be pleased to see Meigs Field restored to its former glory under a new Mayor if that happened.

@southsidemikevlogs 7 лет назад

I would love to take the old air port and turn it into a wet land for cleaning waste water and giving Chicago cleaner drinking water

@dvferyance 5 лет назад

The judges ruled that Chicago had the right to close the airport so I don't know how anyone could say it was illegal.

@15Med3 5 лет назад

They had the right however they intentionally violated FAA regulations. They failed to give the FAA the required notice and file all the paperwork. Its basically tearing down your own house before you had time to get your stuff out.

@pomerlain8924 2 года назад

The problem was that people still had planes parked at the airport, and because Daley went behind everyone's back to destroy the airport, those people weren't able to fly them out. They had to pay a lot of money to have their planes dismantled so that they could be transported out of there, since they couldn't fly out. and the Meigs field tower also was what controlled the air space within the city. And when Meigs Fields closed, there was nothing left to control the airspace.

@JamesAMG Год назад

@@pomerlain8924Well that’s not true. My understanding is that some or all of the aircraft were flown out and departed from the taxiway. Also false about the air traffic control. Meigs tower handles literally just the aircraft at the immediate air field or in the pattern you could say. The airspace is really ran by Chicago Tracon (C90), so that was no issue whatsoever. If Meig’s field was closed, there’s nothing for Meig’s tower to control.

@emmetthornton3443 Год назад

cool

@susanschultz1762 7 лет назад

I don't know why he wanted the land, but I can tell you why he plowed it in the middle of the night. He got tired of squabbling over it so he just "made it happen." What a Daley wants, a Daley gets. I thought it was funny, but I have some friends who don't agree. And I think that the land should be available to ALL Chicagoans, not just the ones wealthy enough to have private planes.

@susanschultz1762 7 лет назад

It was before my time here, but my husband who was born and raised here told me about Papa Daley. He ran the city with an iron fist. He said when Daley laughed it wasn't funny. During the Democratic convention here in the 60's when they were demonstrating he told the cops to shot to kill. KILL American citizens!!! He had incredible power. The phrase "machine politics" defines Chicago politics. He WAS the machine. Daley Jr, the son, is the one who tore up Meigs field. I am not a fan of machine politics, but I did like a couple of things Jr did - Meigs field for one, and he was big on trees, I believe he encouraged the beautification of the city.

@Paular845 6 лет назад

It's an older book, but check out "American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley - His Battle for Chicago and the Nation" by by Adam Cohen and‎ Elizabeth Taylor. Excellent primer on both Daley AND how Chicago came to be the way it is today. Right down to the horsetrading involved with where UIC got built, the Expressways, how the machine system worked in that era (and probably echos to some degree now). Good book.

@BigSteve215 6 лет назад

That's probably because you're way too young.

@gordon4385 6 лет назад

Well, I guess we'll have to concrete over the boat harbors too, then.

@zachlang1982 2 года назад

Nah that’s called authoritarianism, I don’t know much about Mayor Daley but based on what I know about the history of Meigs Field, he sounded like an egotistical prick. He just decided to go against the will of the state, the FAA, and likely hundreds of thousands of people and illegally bulldoze an active runway in the middle of night, causing inbound flights to divert and trapping aircraft on the field. Also your reasoning is atrocious. Assuming that logic, we should just bulldoze every airport in the United States because not everyone gets to share the land it’s built on. I hate to break it to you, but there’s this pesky thing in a free country called private property, just because you envy “the rich” doesn’t negate their rights to it. Technically speaking the airport was public property anyway, for anyone to visit or fly into, and I guarantee you that it brought much more joy to the public than some boring, bland grassland called a park.

@slowlydistancing 2 года назад

Anyone here from HAI newest video ?

@skylarking12 2 года назад

One theory at the time as Daley wanted the airport to build a big casino on. But mostly, he was a (redacted).

@adlibbed2138 3 года назад

NFS Prostreet, cultured folks only

@Fitch93 5 лет назад

Your statement about Meigs being an unimportant commuter airport are so far from being even close to reality........Meigs was THE airport for Business aviation in the Midwest. Meigs was the busiest Business/Commuter/General Aviation Airport in the COUNTRY for most of it's life, right up until the end. When Daley bulldozed it, a massive number of companies relocated, because they had no access to a nearby airport.

@omflcommish9704 5 лет назад

Thats either ignorance of fact or just a fan of the field. It was not near the busiest since the 1950's.

@gordon4385 5 лет назад

Well I agree that it was important- it was a base for the Coast Guard for one thing - but I seriously doubt that it was a reason for manufacturing to move out.

@chicagoeconomist1643 Год назад

Definitely not a natural park

@rcbif101 5 лет назад

Mobster like moves by the mayor. Surprised he didn't get whacked.

@briansivley2001 6 лет назад

I heard that Daley did it because of The Burnham Plan. The lakefront must be clear of industry and be for the people of Chicago.

@gordon4385 6 лет назад

No, he did it because he was a dick.

@briansivley2001 5 лет назад

@@gordon4385 I still think that he did it because of The Burnham Plan. Our lakefront most be clear of industry and be for the people of Chicago to use to play and have picnics in the park. When I learned about The Burnham Plan and everything in it I wondered why is there a airport where there's shouldn't be a airport. I guess I'm a by the books kind of person who if in a city plan says that there's shouldn't be any industry on our lakefront then I'll respect it. So I say good riddance to Meigs Field.

@gordon4385 5 лет назад

@@briansivley2001 Meigs WAS a "public space"; owned by the Chicago Park District, and therefore available to all. It was home to various flying clubs and I myself have flown out of it with my daughter in the Young Eagles program. It was also used by State of Illinois employees with regular flights to and from Springfield. But most importantly, it served as a base for the Coast Guard, to protect swimmers and boaters in local waters. But look no further than Daleys putative reason for turning it into a weedbed: he said it could be used as a base for terrorist bombers. So now, instead of having a controlled airspace on the lake, it is now a Class D airspace. So he gave a BS excuse to essentially be a dick.

@DustyBalz Год назад

I used to fly (for real ) into Meigs Field. The corrupt and criminal mayor tore it up in the middle of night in violation of a commitment to keep it open by accepting federal funds.

@derrickobrzut3898 3 месяца назад

that useless park made less money than meigs field was Chicago’s most profitable airfields for private and corporations.