{"id":352,"date":"2015-10-05T08:00:23","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T12:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/?p=352"},"modified":"2018-01-04T14:23:49","modified_gmt":"2018-01-04T19:23:49","slug":"meacham-field-love-field-and-the-dfw-regional-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/2015\/10\/05\/meacham-field-love-field-and-the-dfw-regional-airport\/","title":{"rendered":"Meacham Field, Love Field, and the DFW Regional Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Aerial<\/a>

Aerial view of the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport from the Lester Strother Texas Metro Magazine collection<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

Dallas and Fort Worth share such a strong rivalry, it\u2019s somewhat of a surprise they\u2019ve been able to work together on some of the most exciting infrastructure projects in North Texas. Take the DFW Regional Airport, for example. Both cities operated their own airports quite successfully for a time–Meacham Field in Fort Worth and Love Field in Dallas. However, these airports were not ready to accommodate the larger airliners that began arriving in the 1930s, nor the expected rise in population.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"Construction<\/a>

Construction workers at the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport site, from the Lester Strother Texas Metro Magazine collection<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

Fort Worth and Dallas each sought to make necessary renovations by asking the Civil Aeronautics Administration for financial assistance, but the CAA was preoccupied with finding an airfield in DFW for army use. Love Field was expanded through a bond program, and Meacham Field was transitioned into the Greater Fort Worth International Airport, or Amon Carter Field.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

While both cities had suggested at different times to cooperate with each other in developing a shared airport, the timing was never right. In 1961, however, it became clear that the federal government wanted Dallas and Fort Worth to work together in establishing a new airport, rather than continuing to renovate the outdated ones. From this, the Dallas\/Fort Worth Regional Airport Board was formed, and plans began to materialize.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"From<\/a>

From “The Southwest Metroplex: A Megalopolis with Leg Room,” from the Lester Strother Texas Metro Magazine collection<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

The Airport Board drafted plans for a world-class airport hub that would have several design breakthroughs, making it a comfortable place for passengers and a profitable place for airlines. Plans included a high-speed spine roadway with localized spin-off parking, which would allow passengers to quickly arrive at the destination appropriate to their needs, whether that be picking up a passenger, dropping off a passenger, or parking and going into the building. The terminals were also planned to be circular in shape, which would allow for better airplane access and visibility. The airport would also implement a computerized multi-terminal transit system for passengers and baggage. <\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"Interior<\/a>

Interior of “The Southwest Metroplex: A Megalopolis with Leg Room,” from the Lester Strother Texas Metro Magazine collection<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

When the airport opened in 1974, there were still plans to continue expanding well into the 21st century. This was due to the anticipated population growth in the Southwest Metroplex, which this pamphlet describes as a \u201cmegalopolis with leg room.\u201d Today, the airport covers nearly 27 square miles, operates 165 gates, 7 runways, and plays host to approximately 174,000 passengers a day.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Lester Strother Texas Metro Magazine collection<\/a> offers more information about the planning and construction of the DFW Airport. Texas Metro was founded largely to promote the airport and the Southwest Metroplex as a whole. The collection also contains materials from other urban planning and infrastructure projects in North Texas.<\/span>
\r\n -by Alexandra Traxinger Sch\u00fctz<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dallas and Fort Worth share such a strong rivalry, it\u2019s somewhat of a surprise they\u2019ve been able to work together on some of the most exciting infrastructure projects in North Texas. Take the DFW Regional Airport, for example. Both cities operated their own airports quite successfully for a time–Meacham Field in Fort Worth and Love… Read more »<\/a>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[106,110,105,109,108,107],"class_list":["post-352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-air-travel","tag-amon-carter-field","tag-aviation","tag-dfw-airport","tag-love-field","tag-meacham-field"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p60UnY-5G","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/2014\/05\/30\/planning-and-development-of-the-dallas-fort-worth-regional-airport\/","url_meta":{"origin":352,"position":0},"title":"Planning and Development of the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport","author":"Morgan","date":"May 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"With summer vacation season quickly approaching, many of us will soon be jetting off to exotic-and perhaps not so exotic-locales far and near which means embarking on an odyssey through DFW International Airport. As you\u2019re navigating through the perils of parking, the joys of security, and the pageantry of sitting\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Planning and Development Cover logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/04\/Planning-and-Development-Cover-logo-300x254.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":298,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/2015\/09\/16\/a-look-into-tomorrow-for-waxahachie\/","url_meta":{"origin":352,"position":1},"title":"A Look Into Tomorrow for Waxahachie","author":"Alexandra","date":"September 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 In the 1980s, Waxahachie, Texas was an exciting place to be. Located in Ennis County, the city attracted many companies to set up headquarters within its limits, including TXI, Chaparral Steel, Owens-Corning Fiberglass, Chevron-Gulf Chemical, Foster Forbes Glass, Tyler Refrigeration, and Leggett and Platt. The city\u2019s population was around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"physics\"","block_context":{"text":"physics","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/tag\/physics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Location Map of Proposed Superconducting Super Collider","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/09\/UNTA_AR0329-001-001_01-740x495.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/09\/UNTA_AR0329-001-001_01-740x495.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/09\/UNTA_AR0329-001-001_01-740x495.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/09\/UNTA_AR0329-001-001_01-740x495.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":455,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/2015\/11\/04\/the-kimbell-art-museum\/","url_meta":{"origin":352,"position":2},"title":"The Kimbell Art Museum","author":"Alexandra","date":"November 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"You can\u2019t visit DFW without visiting Fort Worth\u2019s Kimbell Art Museum. The museum\u2019s permanent collections are impressive and free to view, and the touring exhibits are exciting and rotated often. This isn\u2019t just a museum for tourists, though. The artistic, the worldly, and the cultured of the Southwest Metroplex pay\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"architecture\"","block_context":{"text":"architecture","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/tag\/architecture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The exterior of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, UNTA_AR0327-023-002","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/UNTA_AR0327-023-002_01-740x598.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/UNTA_AR0327-023-002_01-740x598.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/UNTA_AR0327-023-002_01-740x598.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/11\/UNTA_AR0327-023-002_01-740x598.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/2014\/05\/29\/documenting-growth\/","url_meta":{"origin":352,"position":3},"title":"Documenting Growth","author":"Morgan","date":"May 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The history of the Southwest Metroplex has been defined by the explosive growth experienced within the DFW region in the past 60 years. The special collections department of UNT Libraries holds fascinating evidence of this growth in the form of original documents, photographs and collections of personal papers, however many\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":104,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/2015\/04\/29\/the-texas-turnpike-authority-and-the-trinity-route\/","url_meta":{"origin":352,"position":4},"title":"The Texas Turnpike Authority and the Trinity Route","author":"UNT Special Collections","date":"April 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It may be difficult to believe that, until 1966, a non-stop route between eastern Dallas and western Fort Worth didn\u2019t exist. Today, the highways connecting the two cities, as well as all the cities in between them, make Dallas-Fort Worth inseparable. The two stretches of road that contributed most to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"trinityroute01","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/04\/trinityroute01-740x587.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/04\/trinityroute01-740x587.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/04\/trinityroute01-740x587.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":445,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/2016\/01\/20\/university-of-dallas-celebrates-60-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":352,"position":5},"title":"University of Dallas Celebrates 60 Years","author":"Alexandra","date":"January 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This year, the University of Dallas celebrates its sixtieth year of education and enlightenment. In September of 1956, 96 students began undergraduate studies at the newly-founded University of Dallas, located in what is now Irving. Today, nearly 3,000 students attend the University. Bishop Thomas K. Gorman became chancellor of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Bishop Gorman\"","block_context":{"text":"Bishop Gorman","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/tag\/bishop-gorman\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"University of Dallas Advertisement, UNTA_AR0327-020-002","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/10\/UNTA_AR0327-020-002_01-400x514.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":554,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352\/revisions\/554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}