1953

In the beginning, the cities of Dallas and Ft. Worth each had their own separate commercial airports. Dallas had Love Field and Ft. Worth had Meacham. Although Dallas was the larger of the two cities and generated much more air traffic than Ft. Worth, the airlines made stops in both cities.

In the late 1940's, Ft. Worth had proposed joining together with Dallas and working to build one airport midway between the two cities. Dallas initially showed some interest, but the two cities soon became embroiled in a bitter feud regarding the location of the terminal. When Dallas found out it would be on the west side of the airfield facing Ft. Worth, they said thanks but no thanks.

Why on earth should the citizens of Dallas have to drive 19 miles to another airport, they asked themselves, when they had a pefectly good airport seven miles from downtown that suited their needs? Dallas had too much pride for that.

Ft. Worth had civic pride, as well. Seemingly always in the shadow of Dallas, they still had their dreams, too, and with or without Dallas' help they decided to forge ahead. They'd show Texas and the world that Ft. Worth was every bit as good as Dallas. Build it (and make it bigger and better than Dallas' airport) and they will come, Ft. Worth thought.

Amon Carter Field (named after Ft. Worth's patriarch and a majority shareholder in American Airlines) officially opened in April, 1953. At the time, Ft. Worth's new airport put Dallas' to shame. It was described as "the nearest thing to perfection in planning, design and in functional layout of any airport in its class anywhere," and compared to other facilities, its terminal was a showplace.

Traffic at Amon Carter Field soon began to drop-off, though. After the initial novelty wore off, most Dallas travelers continued to prefer the convenience of their own Love Field over the grandeur of Ft. Worth's Amon Carter.

The book From Prairie to Planes, by Darwin Payne and Kathy Fitzpatrick, (Hardcover) 1999, tells the story of how, in November of 1954 -- a year and a half after Amon Carter Field opened -- it was losing money. To help improve traffic there, Ft. Worth decided to

• offer to sell a half interest in the airport to the City of Dallas at the original cost to Ft. Worth;

• change the name of the airport to include Dallas; and

• explore the possible formation of a joint port authority with representtives from both cities.

What was Dallas' response? (Page 84)

"Dallas' unnofficial reaction , issued by the Chamber of Commerce, was quick and somewhat contemptuous. Chamber President Crossman and the chairman of the Chamber's aviation committee, Angus C. Wynne, Jr. declared in a joint statement that the offer amounted to an effort by Ft. Worth to bail itself out of financial problems.

"What it boils down to is this: Ft. Worth is offering to sell Dallas a detour -- a detour which the air travelers and shippers of Dallas would then have to use."

In the joint statement the two men pointed out that Ft. Worth had less than 125,000 originating and terminating air passengers a year compared to Dallas' 750,000. "The inconvenience and unnecessary expense involved in a Dallas passenger's use of the Ft. Worth Airport, multiplied by 750,000, amounts to staggering totals. These are the basic reasons Dallas insists on continuing the use of Love Field."

Traffic continued to dwindle at Amon Carter Field and the airport was still losing money. Ft. Worth City leaders grew more and more concerned.

The problem was Ft. Worth didn't have the population on its own to support such a large airport. Ft. Worth needed Dallas' strong travel market to make Amon Carter Field viable. Dallas already had Love Field and preferred to compete with Ft. Worth rather than joining forces and working together.

In May 1960, Ft. Worth shortened the name to Greater Southwest International Airport (GSW) in an effort to get Dallas to reconsider. Dallas wasn't interested and with good reason. They were no longer using the old Lemmon Avenue Terminal. They'd opened the current Love Field Terminal in Janauary 1958, barely two years before, and it was now bigger and grander than Ft. Worth's. Traffic was booming.

Neither city would give in. Both continued to make improvements to their respective airports at government expense.

Finally, the government told the two cities they would no longer fund both airports. Dallas and Ft. Worth would have to join together and build one airport to serve the entire region.

Thanks to the government's decision, Ft. Worth basically got everything they had wanted from Dallas back in 1954. Remember, they wanted Dallas to own a half share of "their" airport even though Dallas was perfectly happy with its own.

Since DFW was built very near the site of GSW, it's just as convenient to Ft. Worth as GSW was, but meanwhile, Dallasites, who made up the lion's share of all travelers in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area at that time, were the ones facing a longer drive.

In return, Dallas was added to the name of the new airport, and as Ft. Worth had proposed in 1954, the airport is now run by a joint authority with representatives from both cities.

That's why it's always amusing to hear Ft. Worth say "We tore down our airport. Dallas did not." Well of course Ft. Worth tore down their airport. Since the new airport was being built right next door it was basically replacing Ft. Worth's old (money-losing) one, only this time on a much grander scale. And this time, it would succeed because Dallas travelers would be forced to support it.