By Jack Seufert, M.A. ’26, American Studies
When the proposal for a national airport emerged in 1935, Washington, D.C. had already spent nearly a decade in need of a central airfield. After years of debates, bills and hearings, Washington National Airport finally opened at Gravelly Point in 1941. Today, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport stands as the result of a century-long struggle to bring convenient air travel to the nation’s capital region.
Washington’s first airports were very different from today’s National Airport. Hoover Field and Washington Airport opened in 1926 and 1927 respectively, directly across from each other in Arlington, Virginia. The location proved dangerous, however, as a local amusement park and smoke-filled landfill often obscured the runways. Things got worse for the two airports in the crumbling economy of the Great Depression, causing them to merge into a single entity in 1933, known as Washington-Hoover Airport. Even as a single operation, the location remained problematic. A street known as Military Road ran through the airfield, and guards were posted to stop traffic for take-offs and landings. Seeking a more suitable airport for the nation’s capital, the federal government had to step in.
Despite a steady stream of federal intervention, disagreements on Capitol Hill and public debate over a national airport delayed change for a decade. Congress passed the Air Commerce Act in 1926, creating an aeronautics branch of the Commerce Department for aviation regulation. But the branch’s jurisdiction did not extend to airports themselves. During the Great Depression, the aeronautics branch worked with what became the Works Progress Administration to provide aid to airports, but some in the Commerce Department worried about its ability to support adequate infrastructure. Over the next decade, 37 congressional hearings, studies and committee reports addressed the need for a national airport — but none led to concrete action. By 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was compelled to step in and address the issue.
After his growing impatience with Congress, which failed to select a site for the new airport, Roosevelt moved the project forward by announcing at a 1938 press conference that the airport would be built at Gravelly Point. When Congress was in recess, Roosevelt redirected 15 million dollars from other projects to fund the airport’s construction, causing lawmakers to question his move’s legality. Despite objections, the federal government moved forward with preparing the site — clearing 11 feet of silt, building a dike and relocating nearly 20 million cubic yards of sand to Gravelly Point. At last, Washington had a home for its airport.
The newly constructed complex, known as Washington National Airport, opened on June 16, 1941, with one operating hanger and five more under construction. Throughout the late 20th-century, Washington National continued to grow, adding major terminal and runway extensions, as well as a Metro stop. Following the airport’s final major expansion, which included a new one-million-square-foot terminal, Washington National became Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport through a congressional bill signed by President Bill Clinton in 1998.
Bringing the 1935 proposal to life was an enormous achievement. Embedded in the plan lies the accumulated knowledge of many debates and early efforts to make the nation’s capital centrally accessible by air, laying the groundwork for today’s National Airport.
Bibliography
“Arlington’s Flying Field is Dedicated.” Washington Post, Jul. 17, 1926.
Edgerton, Joseph S. “New Airport to Have One of World’s Finest Transportation Terminals.” Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), Apr. 21, 1940.
Feaver, Douglas B. “Years of Deal-Making Enabled Change From ‘Disgrace’ to Showplace.” Washington Post, Jul. 16, 1997.
Kellman, Laurie. “Clinton to Sign Bill Renaming National Airport for Reagan.” Day (New London, CT), Feb. 5, 1998.
“National Airport Points the Way in Efficiency.” Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), Jun. 22, 1941.
“McCarran Sees Death Peril in Local Airport: Says Major Disaster Has Been Prevented Here Only by Luck.” Washington Post, May 13, 1938.
Peck, Margaret C. Washington Dulles International Airport. Arcadia Publishing Incorporated, 2005.
Schrag, Zachary M. The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014.
This post was written in conjunction with the museum’s exhibition From A to DC: Transportation in Washington, an introduction to D.C.’s transportation history.
About the Author
Jack Seufert has a B.A. in English and history and is pursuing a master’s degree in American studies with a concentration in museums and material culture at GW. He enjoys researching historical artifacts and is interested in a public history career.