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Iowa City Municipal Airport

airport in Iowa, United States of America

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 revisionJul 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ3014972 ↗
Source-derived summary

Iowa City Municipal Airport (IATA: IOW, ICAO: KIOW, FAA LID: IOW), is two miles southwest of downtown Iowa City, in Johnson County, Iowa. It is the oldest civil airport west of the Mississippi River still in its original location.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021 categorized it as a regional general aviation facility.

The airport has no scheduled airline service; the closest airline airport is The Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids, about 19 miles (31 km) northwest. In the 1920s Iowa City was on the original transcontinental air route, flown by Boeing Air Transport, a United predecessor. On March 1, 1959, United was replaced by Ozark, which pulled out of Iowa City in April 1970.

Facilities

The airport covers 450 acres (180 ha) at an elevation of 683 feet (208 m). It has two concrete runways: 7/25 is 5,002 by 100 feet (1,525 x 30 m); 12/30 is 3,900 by 75 feet (1,189 x 23 m). The airport has approved GPS and VOR Instrument approaches.

In the year ending September 14, 2016 the airport had 19,287 aircraft operations, average 53 per day: 87% general aviation, 11% air taxi, and 1% military.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Iowa City Municipal Airport” as airport in Iowa, United States of America. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Iowa, City and Municipal.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2017, 2021, 1959, 1970—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Iowa, City and Municipal providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Iowa City Municipal Airport”, the useful work is to connect “airport in Iowa, United States of America” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

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 Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3014972. Authority coordinates are 41.639, -91.546. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2017, 2021, 1959 and 1970.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. 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 “Iowa City Municipal Airport”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Iowa City Municipal Airport primary sources, Iowa City Municipal Airport archive and Iowa 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 “Iowa City Municipal Airport”?
  2. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Iowa City Municipal Airport” 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.