Ashburn Flying Field

Ashburn Flying Field was the first airport built, after the 1911-established aerodrome named Cicero Flying Field closed in April 1916, to serve Chicago, Illinois.^[1] It opened in November 1916 in Ashburn, a community at the southwest corner of Chicago.^[2] The airfield site was a marshy area approximately a square mile in size, and previously devoid of trees or buildings, before the Aero Club of Illinois, itself founded on February 10. 1910,^[3] the organization that had operated the Cicero facility, moved its aerodrome's hangars and buildings to its new Ashburn Field facility some time before it had opened.^[4] It was offered for the use of the US government by the Aero Club of Illinois,^[5] The Ashburn facility's opening was shortly before the start of a pioneering airmail flight in 1916 by Victor Carlstrom, in a Curtiss biplane, from Chicago to New York City, sponsored by The New York Times.^[6][7] During World War 1, it was a Signal Corps training camp. After the war, it had airmail contracts. It was supplanted by nearby Midway Airport as a major aviation center for Chicago. It closed in 1939. The site is now Scottsdale Shopping center and subdivision.^[2]

Ashburn Flying Field
IATA: none ICAO: none
Summary
Airport type	General aviation
Owner/Operator	Aero Club of Illinois
Serves	Chicago, Illinois
Location	41°44′44.00″N 87°44′44.64″W
Opened	November 1916
Closed	1939