History of the Mason City Airport Terminal
Mason City has a long history of aviation. The Mason City Chamber of Commerce and American Legion Post worked together to establish an airfield in 1927. This original airfield was located at the southwest corner of Highway 18 and Taft Avenue and handled services like mail delivery more than passenger flights in its early days. The dedication of the airport was a large ceremony, with aviator Charles Lindbergh serving as the guest of honor only a few months after completing his solo flight of the Atlantic. The airport was moved north across Highway 18 and about a mile to the west in 1933, with investment from the Legion and Chamber of Commerce covering the cost of a new hangar on the site. However, financial difficulties stemming from the Great Depression and the high costs of running the airport caused its closure in 1936.
The city went through several attempts to revive the airport, but efforts were unsuccessful until 1940. By this time, the federal government was offering generous funding for air facilities to states and cities in the interior of the country as it prepared for a potential ramp up in hostilities in World War II. The funding increased even more after the United States entered the war officially in 1941, with stricter government requirements for airfields then in place. Improvements to meet these requirements included longer and wider runways, better grading, wider clearing of areas around the airport, and additional lighting. All told, the airport cost about $900,000 and covered more than 600 acres of land when it officially opened in 1944. The terminal at this location was a renovated farmhouse already on the property. It was opened in the summer of 1945 and housed the local airport manager, federal communications officials, radio equipment, and weather instruments. Once the terminal was completed, daily service on Mid-Continent’s Minneapolis to Kansas City route began in 1946.
North and west elevation drawings of original airport terminal building. Courtesy of ATURA Architecture.
In the 1950s, the airport gained more passenger routes. On December 1, 1950, a route to Chicago was added by Mid-Continent Airlines. That month, 774 passengers used the Mason City Airport, an 81 percent increase over the previous year’s December total. A dining room was also added to the airport in 1951, with walnut paneling, green furniture, baseboard heating units, and a ceiling with high quality sound absorption ability. The highlight of the dining room was undoubtedly the floor-to-ceiling windows lining the walls, providing a view of airplanes landing and taking off to diners.
However, the terminal would need to be upgraded. Although new buildings had been built around it to house other facilities, the farmhouse was still part of the airport terminal even in the late 1950s. It was not an ideal space. Ozark, the airline operating flights in and out of the airport in the 1960s, operated out of an office that was a converted restroom. The roof, which had been fully replaced when the building was converted, was leaky. The second floor was even slowly falling into the building, making half the building’s space unusable.
At the same time, more and more people were flying out of Mason City’s airport. For example, in 1955 the airport was used by 13,693 passengers, roughly 1,500 passengers increase from the previous year. By the end of 1959, the airport had completed a Tee Hangar for smaller aircraft and was working on a new maintenance hangar. This period was approximately when plans for a new terminal began as well.
By 1964, the new terminal designs were made public. Waggoner and Waggoner were the architects for this new terminal, as they had been for many previous airport projects. The terminal was a joint project, also designed with input from Kenneth Whitehead, a consulting architect from Minneapolis. The new terminal was designed in a contemporary style, with an emphasis on open spaces, gradual ramps to bridge vertical distances, and vertical bands of windows. Another chief tenant of the design was flexibility, with the terminal designed to make future additions or interior adaptations as easy as possible. The total overall cost was kept just below $200,000 as part of an agreement between the Airport Commission and City Council, where the city would provide funding if the total cost was kept under that figure. The terminal building was completed and opened in the spring of 1966.
South Elevation and Plan drawings of new airport terminal, drawn by Waggoner and Waggoner. Published in the Mason City Globe Gazette.
Historical Photographs below are from the archives of the Mason City Public Library and the Mason City Municipal Airport.
The skeleton of the terminal, viewed from the back (on the runways). This was taken during construction in 1965.
The new terminal under construction in 1965. The brick bands on the front face are being laid in this photo.
The new terminal, with the overall building taking shape, in 1965 or 1966.
Left: A view out of the completed terminal, August 31, 1967. This photograph was likely taken from the upper level, which is office space. Right: The view from a similar position in 2023, taken during a historical survey of the building. Modern security and doors had been added by this time.
The Mason City Airport has looked many different ways over the years. The first terminal was a converted farmhouse. It was first used as an airport building when the city bought the property in 1940. It was renovated and reopened in 1945. Based on historical photos of the farmhouse and terminal, the terminal adapted the basic form or the building but made major changes, such as removing the original roof and adding a tower for air traffic control. Additional windows were also added to make observing and directing the airport traffic more efficient. Because it was built using the form of the preexisting farmhouse, the terminal was not highly stylized, leaning more towards a simple functional space.
These photos, from a 1964 Globe Gazette article, show the changes made to the farmhouse to convert it to the terminal. Although the building changed a lot, the overall form is still visible.
A few additions were made to the terminal over the years. In 1951, the airport added more space for a dining room. This facility was described by observers at the time as ultra-modern, with walnut paneling, green furniture, baseboard heating units, and a ceiling with high quality sound absorption ability. The highlight of the dining room was undoubtedly the floor-to-ceiling windows lining the walls, providing a view of airplanes landing and taking off to diners. This space offered an experience more in line with the expectations of air travelers at the time. Increasing availability of air travel made it a more accessible but still luxurious experience. As such, elaborate and modern comforts had become the expectation of those coming to Mason City’s airport to travel.
A 1951 photograph from the Globe Gazette shows the inside and outside of the new airport dining room.
The former farmhouse remained the terminal until the 1960s. By that time, the building was showing its age. The building was too small for the airport’s needs and was showing its age with structural problems. Waggoner and Waggoner were hired to design the new terminal, and they used the opportunity to make something totally new. The terminal, which opened in 1966, was unlike the old building. Its use of long windows and horizontal lines was new for the airport. The space was also much better suited to expanding air travel. Like with the dining room before, flying as a means of travel was growing, and travelers wanted more space while preparing to fly out. The new terminal building offered that when it was built, and its design allowed for easier future expansion if needed.
The view of the airport terminal from the parking area in 2023. Photograph Courtesy of Tallgrass Archaeology LLC.
A view of the airport terminal from the runway in 2023. Photograph Courtesy of Tallgrass Archaeology LLC.
By the 2010s, the airport was showing its age. Although the problems with the building were not as pronounced as the previous terminal in the 1960s, the airport had simply outgrown the facility. Modern planes, security, and transportation logistics simply became bigger than the terminal could easily accommodate, and some parts of the terminal are out of date with current regulations for building codes and accessibility. As such, the decision was made the replacing the terminal with a modern building would be the best way forward for Mason City and its air travel. Like with the converted farmhouse being replaced by the terminal in 1965, this is necessary because Mason City and its airport are adapting to the changes in the ways we travel by air. Because the airport was so important to Mason City, and because it was designed by an important local architectural firm, work has been done to understand the building’s context and history. Even if the building itself is gone, the place it has in Mason City’s history will still be well understood because of projects like this.