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The Larson Brothers Airport is an airport in rural Winnebago County, Wisconsin, United States (near Larsen, Wisconsin)[2] along the former Wisconsin Highway 150 (now County II). It was the first airport in the county and one of the first in the state outside of Milwaukee.[3] It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Larson Brothers Airport | |
 Hangar in 2010 | |
   | |
| Location | County II Clayton, Winnebago County, Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Area | 38 acres (15 ha) |
| Built | 1922 |
| Architect | Knute Johnson |
| NRHP reference No. | 84003825[1] |
| Added to NRHP | April 5, 1984 |
The airport operated from 1922, three years after the state's first airport opened in Milwaukee, until 1990.[3][4] It was formed when Clarence, Leonard, Newell, and Roy Larson cleared an 80 rod-long sod landing strip behind their barn.[3] He had two Curtiss Canuck airplanes.[5] They began barnstorming the United States at county fairs and offering flying lessons before building a hangar in 1924.[3] Roy Larson barnstormed Wisconsin for Bob La Follette's 1924 Presidential campaign.[3] The hangar allowed them to work and store on six airplanes.[3]
In 1926, the brothers formed the Roy Larson Aircraft Company for their repair work, and created a corporation for all of their ventures as the Wisconsin Airways in the following year.[3] Roy Larson died in 1929 while a student was flying the airplane that he was riding in.[5]
In 1932, the Milwaukee Journal called the airport the "finest airport in the state".[3] Soon after, sod airports began fading as more powerful airplanes required longer paved runways.[3] It temporarily closed following a federal mandate at the beginning of World War II.[3]
Leonard Larson trained fighter pilots for the war.[6]
By the late 1970s, it was the oldest airport in the state.[5]
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The airport was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 5, 1984.[1][6] A historic marker was unveiled along Wisconsin Highway 150 on September 29, 1985 describing the history of the airport.[6] The National Register uses the airport's design as an example of an airport included because of its design/construction: "The Larsen Brothers Airport in Clayton, Winnebago County, Wisconsin, represents one of the earliest forms of airport design in the State. Builder Knute Johnson adapted barn-building technology to construct the hangar in 1924."[7]
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Landing strip
Historic marker
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