Editor’s note: In this series, local author David Aaron Moore answers reader-submitted questions about unusual, noteworthy or historic people, places and things in Charlotte. Submit inquires to davidaaronmoore@post.com.
The past week marked the fourth anniversary of the Flight 1549 crash. Because it was in the news so often, I found myself in conversation with my uncle about our airport. He told me there was another in the area that closed in the late 1980s. I have to admit I’m an airplane buff, so I’m curious: Is it still around? – Zach Lee, Charlotte
There have been three major airports in Charlotte’s history. The first was built in 1936 with regular air service provided by Eastern Airlines. The second – the one your uncle referred to – opened in 1954 and was named after former Charlotte Mayor Ben Elbert Douglas Sr.
When Charlotte Douglas Municipal Airport opened, it was heralded as a technological achievement never before seen in the region (capable of handling as many as 13 or 14 planes on the field at once) and considered the Carolina’s largest and busiest airport.
So what happened to it?
Your curiosity got the best of me, so I hopped in the car and took a ride in the general direction of where I thought the airport was. The streets have changed and it took a bit of exploring, but I found most of it is still there.
Armed with my camera and some vague childhood recollection of the old municipal, I turned onto the long drive that leads up to the circle where passengers were dropped off and picked up. I was surprised to see so much intact, although the old control tower has been removed.
- David Aaron Moore
- The former Douglas Municipal Airport main terminal as it stands today.
The minimal Internet research I did before I made the trip indicated that the building is now used as office space. The entrance way to the right was armed with some kind of key pad, presumably for security. The other front doors, on the far left, had no key pad and were unlocked. Without any “no trespassing” signs, I couldn’t resist some historical exploration.
The mid-century modern façade, covered breezeway and lobby are seemingly unchanged from when they were constructed some 60 years ago. The terrazzo tile floors are still intact, and the massive glazed concrete, terrazzo and chrome deco-inspired free-hanging stairwell is still as striking today as it was so many years ago. The rubber tree plant that I could recall from my childhood has grown nearly 40 feet, towering over the stairwell.
The upper and lower mall spaces, which once housed newsstands, coffee and gift shops and dining facilities (that offered “unobscured views of take-offs and landings, to add to your dining pleasure,” said the Charlotte Observer) are somewhat ghostly now. Empty dining tables, presumably for the current office workers, fill the space, and the former storefronts have been covered over.
Concourses that previously led to boarding gates have been demolished. A quick walk-though of the basement revealed a dimly lit space strewn with paperwork from as early as the 1950s.
During its more than 35 years of service, only one major civil aviation disaster occurred at Charlotte’s Douglas Municipal Airport. On the morning of Sept. 11, 1974, Eastern Air Lines Flight 212, en route from Charleston, S.C., to Chicago with a planned stopover in Charlotte, crashed in dense fog just short of the runway. On board were 78 passengers and four crew members. Seventy one people died; among them the father and two older brothers of Comedy Central talk-show host and South Carolina native Stephen Colbert.
David Aaron Moore is the author of “Charlotte: Murder, Mystery and Mayhem.” His writings have appeared in numerous publications throughout the U.S. and Canada.
This article appears in Jan 16-22, 2013.
What a morbid stretch to connect Stephen Colbert to this old airport, I mean… really, come on.
uhm – Great article which unfortunately forgets to mention where the older airports were located. Wasn’t that the question?
Thanks for your input Jacob and Mike. There was no morbidity intended with the Colbert reference. It’s something he has spoken about openly already and, it is a part of the old Charlotte airport’s history. As for the location, Zach actually didn’t ask me for that (see above). It’s not far from Charlotte Douglas International and if you go hunting around a little, maybe you’ll find it like I did. It is currently used for office space by various private companies, so I felt it would be inappropriate to provide the address. Again, thanks for reading! 🙂
Is this about a former terminal building or is this about an entirely different airport site, where the runways and everything else were located elsewhere? I’m a little bit confused by this otherwise VERY interesting article.
Does anyone have pictures of the old Douglas airport hotel from the 70’s?
The location of the old terminal is no secret. It is totally visible from the current terminal directly across the crosswind runway 5/23 and between the parallel runways. If you go west on West Blvd, after Billy Graham parkway, turn right on what was once Terminal Road but is now Yorkmount I believe and it dead ends into what’s left of the old terminal. US Air Cargo, their maintenance hangar, FedEx and the post office are down that road too. To answer another post, it is the same airport/runways, just different terminal building.
Easter Air Lines 212 is not the only major accident at CLT. You do a disservice to the families and memories of the passengers who died in US Air 1016, and Air Midwest 5481. I realize you are referring to accidents that occurred only during the Old Terminal’s operational days, however that airport is still on the exact same ground, and the runways are largely the same as they were during the days of Douglas Municipal. Regardless of which terminal building was in use at the time, there are other major accidents that deserve to be remembered in any article referencing crashes at CLT.
Hey everyone I’m at the old terminal now! Everything is pretty much the same it is now a second building of training offices for American Airlines
I can tell you I was in the basement of the old terminal this week and it is haunted, lights turning on and off by themselves and cold spots down there, made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, one maintenance employee told me they would have to fire him before he would go down there again.
American and Piedmont use the upper floor for training. I was on the inaugural (plank owner in Navy jargon) crew that opened the KECP station, and we took under the wing training there. While everyone else was looking for bars and “Doing Downtown” I was the airplane buff that went to the Museum and saw the Airbus that flew as 1549. The museum is EXCELLENT. Out on the tarmac was the Historic Flight Foundation DC-6, still stranded due to bad engines, although now she will need much more work to fly again. One of the other cool this are the cockpits you can get into! Anyways I just wanted to add to the info on the old terminal.