CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Ford Airport (Dearborn)

1924-1947 airport serving Dearborn and Detroit, Michigan, USA

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 23, 2026
Entity authorityQ5467646 ↗
Source-derived summary

Ford Airport in Dearborn, Michigan, United States, was one of the first modern airports in the world. It operated from 1924 to 1947. The site is now part of Ford Motor Company's Dearborn Proving Ground. The airport was about 360 acres (150 ha) in size.

This airport saw many world and U.S. "firsts": the first U.S. airport hotel, the first concrete runways, the first U.S. scheduled passenger service, the first contracted airmail service, the first radio control for a commercial flight, and the first U.S. passenger terminal. The buildings were designed by architect Albert Kahn and are considered to have greatly influenced the design of airports throughout the U.S.

The original aircraft facilities were in use as part of the Ford testing facilities at the proving ground. However, the original (greatly modified) passenger terminal was demolished in 1961, and the remaining hangar, used as an experimental engine test facility since the late 1940s, was demolished in 2018. Only The Dearborn Inn, a hotel that was built across the road to serve the airport, remains.

Historical timeline

1924: 20,000 square foot (1,900 m2) Stout Metal Airplane Company factory opens (the Ford family were major investors and provided the land)

1924: November, Ford Airport is dedicated as the first modern airport, equipped with two grass runways and flood lights for night landings.

1925: Henry Ford builds the largest, most modern and only privately owned permanent dirigible mooring mast.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Ford Airport (Dearborn)” as 1924-1947 airport serving Dearborn and Detroit, Michigan, USA. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1924, 1947, 1961, 2018—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1924. The account is most persuasive where Ford, Airport and Dearborn can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as 1924-1947 airport serving Dearborn and Detroit, Michigan, USA. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5467646. Authority coordinates are 42.300, -83.217. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1924, 1947, 1961 and 2018.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ford Airport (Dearborn)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ford Airport (Dearborn) primary sources, Ford Airport (Dearborn) archive and Ford research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ford Airport (Dearborn)”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ford Airport (Dearborn)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.