Vintage Times-Union: A look at Jacksonville's old airport, from Lindbergh to the Beatles

Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union
·2 min read
In 1964, right after Hurricane Dora ripped through Jacksonville, the Beatles landed at Imeson Airport, the predecessor to Jacksonville International Airport, on their way downtown to news conferences and a windy performance at the Gator Bowl.
In 1964, right after Hurricane Dora ripped through Jacksonville, the Beatles landed at Imeson Airport, the predecessor to Jacksonville International Airport, on their way downtown to news conferences and a windy performance at the Gator Bowl.
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In the days before people began boarding airplanes while wearing sweatpants, decades of air travelers came and went at the city's old airport on North Main Street, now an industrial park a little north of the current site of the Jacksonville Zoo.

Jacksonville Municipal Airport (later known as Imeson) officially opened in December 1928 on what was once a 175-acre prison farm. In 1931 Eastern Air Transport, which would become Eastern Airlines, opened a passenger terminal there

Construction progresses at Imeson Airport in this Feb. 1, 1955, file photo. The bubbles in the photograph are from the emulsion deteriorating on a vintage 4-by-5 negative.
Construction progresses at Imeson Airport in this Feb. 1, 1955, file photo. The bubbles in the photograph are from the emulsion deteriorating on a vintage 4-by-5 negative.

Despite the airport's later success, it was an uphill struggle in the 1920s when passenger travel still was novel and airmail was just beginning to make aviation more than just a sport.

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In May 1964 civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is met at Imeson Airport by the Southern Christian Leadership's Andrew Young on his way to St. Augustine, site of protests and counter-protests. King was driven to the Ancient City, which he described as a "small Birmingham.'' The following month he was arrested there and spent a night in jail. A few weeks later, President Lyndon Johnson signed the momentous Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Its beginnings were humble. In a 2017 article, Times-Union writer Sandy Strickland noted that "the first hangar was constructed with old telephone poles supporting the walls and roof beams, and with sheets of corrugated steel roofing leftover from city building projects. The first terminal was a small wooden building with a fireplace and a bedroom for the day and night manager, 'gas boy,' mechanic and receptionist all in one. [Jacksonville aviation pioneer Laurie] Yonge was its first manager."

On Jan. 21, 1967, former Vice President Richard Nixon stops at Jacksonville's Imeson Airport on the way to Gainesville, where he spoke at the University of Florida.
On Jan. 21, 1967, former Vice President Richard Nixon stops at Jacksonville's Imeson Airport on the way to Gainesville, where he spoke at the University of Florida.

Local history: Jacksonville's Imeson saw everything from Lindbergh to JFK to MLK

Before it was even finished, Charles Lindbergh, the first pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, christened the airfield when he landed there on Oct. 10, 1927. The aviator and his Spirit of St. Louis monoplane were greeted by a crowd estimated at 150,000. Previous Times-Union stories have noted what a remarkable number that was, given that the city's official population was just 129,500.

Passengers board a prop plane from the tarmac at old Imeson Airport in 1950.
Passengers board a prop plane from the tarmac at old Imeson Airport in 1950.

Jacksonville tried to name its airport after Lindbergh, but San Diego beat the city to it.

The airport was renamed in 1948 for Thomas Cole Imeson, the city commissioner who led the effort to build it, and it would bear that name until it closed.

In the early morning of Dec. 21, 1955, an Eastern Air Lines Constellation traveling from Miami to Jacksonville crashed during an attempt to land at Imeson Airport. All 17 people on board, 12 passengers and five crew members, died. Although the plane came to rest in a neighborhood west of Main Street and debris struck homes in the area, no residents on the ground were injured. An 18-month investigation of the Civil Aeronautics Board found the crash occurred after the pilot descended too low in fog. The plane struck several trees and exploded in flames.

Strickland noted that in 1960 John Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Rose Kennedy went through Imeson's gates. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. touched down in 1964 on his way to civil rights demonstrations in St. Augustine. Later that year the Beatles flew there just after Hurricane Dora. The Times-Union described it as a 'secret arrival,' but somehow 150 Beatle-mad fans were there to greet them.

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Imeson shut down in 1969, the year after the opening of Jacksonville International Airport, which could handle the new larger jets that needed longer runways and more space, the better to accommodate all those travelers in sweatpants.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville's original airport hosted Nixon, Kennedy, MLK, Beatles