4 ms·

There is a brilliant, literal bulldozer story about Chicago's lost third airport. For years there was a busy and successful commercial airport in downtown Chic

There is a brilliant, literal bulldozer story about Chicago's lost third airport. For years there was a busy and successful commercial airport in downtown Chicago right on Lake Michigan. At some point Mayor Daley decided he wanted it closed for his own agenda, but no one else would let it happen. So, in the middle of one dark night in 2003, he got some contractor cronies to go out there and bulldoze the runway, damaging it beyond repair. This forced the closing of the airport. >Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley forced the closing of Meigs in 2003 by ordering the overnight bulldozing of its runway without notice, in violation of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations. To this day, the site of the former airport is an undeveloped "natural preserve" and most Chicagoans have no idea that it used to be somewhere they could fly out of. Funny story. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meigs_Field https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meigs_Field

lenzm 5y ago
It's not undeveloped, there's a park and music venue there now. I don't think it is a leap to say it is now used by many more Chicagoans than the airport for private jets ever was, even if most Chicagoans are unaware.
- a9h74j 5y ago
  Daley's midnight move: Truly an example of "creative" destruction. Today instead of X's the bulldozers could have engraved an acronym, and he could have argued it was for an immediate good cause. Aka acronym-washing. BTW, I would suggest "levelers" as another label to consider, but then Wikipedia would need some disambiguation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levellers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levellers
vilhelm_s 5y ago
Oh wow, that used to be the default starting airport in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I must have taken off from it a million simulated times as a kid...
wpietri 5y ago
Do you have a citation on "busy and successful"? I lived in Chicago in the 1990s and I remember Meigs Field as niche curiosity. The only airports I or anybody I knew used were O'Hare and Midway, both reasonable transit rides from downtown.
JetAlone 5y ago
Reminds me of the story of Denver International Airport's unnecessary construction.

lenzm 5y ago

It's not undeveloped, there's a park and music venue there now. I don't think it is a leap to say it is now used by many more Chicagoans than the airport for private jets ever was, even if most Chicagoans are unaware.

a9h74j 5y ago
Daley's midnight move: Truly an example of "creative" destruction. Today instead of X's the bulldozers could have engraved an acronym, and he could have argued it was for an immediate good cause. Aka acronym-washing. BTW, I would suggest "levelers" as another label to consider, but then Wikipedia would need some disambiguation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levellers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levellers

vilhelm_s 5y ago

Oh wow, that used to be the default starting airport in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I must have taken off from it a million simulated times as a kid...

wpietri 5y ago

Do you have a citation on "busy and successful"? I lived in Chicago in the 1990s and I remember Meigs Field as niche curiosity. The only airports I or anybody I knew used were O'Hare and Midway, both reasonable transit rides from downtown.

JetAlone 5y ago

Reminds me of the story of Denver International Airport's unnecessary construction.