Jacksonville Municipal Airport Imeson Field
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For over 40 years, Jacksonville Municipal Airport Imeson Field was the center of the First Coast’s commercial aviation scene. Jacksonville Municipal Airport Number One opened in 1927, with a dedication that included Charles Lindbergh. In 1931, Eastern Air Transit (eventually Eastern Airlines) became the first major commercial airline to provide regular service to Jacksonville.
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http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/970
When I lived in Jax during the 70's, 80's and early 90's, sometimes I would go riding in that area of town. I knew it was an old airport because when I was a kid, the TV stations would state that the temperatures were so and so at Imeson, this I remember. I would ride around the park on weekends when it was closed and could see the old perforations that remained from the former runways. These are probably gone by now and it is possibly very hard to see any indications up close. Anyway, interesting thread. I'll bet you can also see the same at Cecil Commerce regarding previous hints that that park was a former military (naval) base (barracks, military housing, etc.).
Heights Unknown
I flew out of Jax on Wednesday. The new terminal is awesome.
That's the airport my Mom and Grandmother landed at when they arrived from New York to Jacksonville, and before that, Germany to New York. I am the first on my Mom's side of the family to be born in America. The stretch of cars out there seems to go on for miles, really shows you how bad off the auto industry is.
My grandparents generally preferred taking the train from Jax Terminal when traveling. I remember going into its tunnels and the smell of the trains and leather luggage as well as being mesmerized by the trains backing into the station. In those days, you could go on the train to say goodbye before the train pulled out. No greater thrill for a small kid than running through a rail car! And regular travelers even knew the porters by name.
Likewise, at Imeson, as air travel picked up. You would walk to the plane from the terminal via covered outdoor walkways. From the end of the walk way, you would proceed to the movable stairs to enter the plane. Anyone could go out on the tarmac to receive or say farewell to passengers. And, in those days, flying was special. Everyone wore their Sunday best when flying (or doing almost anything else back then :) ). I think they would even let you board the plane, like the trains, to say goodbye. National Airlines was a class airline at its peak. Remember its "Fly Me, I'm (enter girl's name)" campaign. It was both popular and controversial at the same time. Merging with Pan Am (the GM of airlines at the end) was obviously a ruinous move but it represented the new trend of combining domestic carriers with international ones.
One big problem at Imeson was the St. Regis paper mill that was off the end of the runway. Planes would take off or land and fly right over the mill picking up all its ugly odors. This did a lot to earn Jax the title of being a smelly city. Buddy Hackett even wise cracked about it on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson after visiting Jax.
We have movies of all of the above and one day I need to digitize them. Another world, another time. Full of excitement and innocence.
As the largest commercial park in Jax it would be in a good position to grow with commuter rail as it is directly adjacent to the main street line.
In addition, a station would be adjacent to the Busch Brewery Tour and set up perfectly for rapid bus connections between BRT and rail (via Dunn Avenue).
Don't forget the Zoo could be serviced by the same stop.
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Meanwhile, downtown...
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There were two covered walks out the back of Imeson, one went NE the other SE from the terminal building.
There was no roof cover between the "gates" and the planes. The concourse was a metal roof sidewalk not unlike the one that extends west from the Central Skyway Station downtown. On each side of the walk was a metal railing, polished with the hands of thousands of passengers. Every now and then there was a break in the rail with a chain hanging across it (again similar to the "gates" where you board the Skyway). These were called the GATES. No such thing as a boarding lounge, the airport had a general "Railroad style" waiting room.
When the planes would land then they would make an arrival or departure call. Crowds usually met at the back doors which became something like a Wal-Mart entry on November 26. Passengers and their guests or families would just walk out to the chain at gate such and such and wait for the chain to be dropped. Heavy rain brought out the umbrellas en masse. BTW, municipal airport Number 2 was Craig Field, which WAS used from time to time by the Military but was never a regular base.
Blimps for the US Navy had pads at NAS and Mayport. A special Navy LTA base called NLTA FRANCIS FIELD allowed coastal patrol blimps to overnight SE of World Golf Village. The massive Blimp Stations were at Brunswick - NLTA GLENCO, BANANNA RIVER, RICHMOND FL (Miami area).
Even up to and including most of the 1950's railroads RULED the passenger trade. Coming out of Imeson one day, our family friends plane had been delayed by many hours due to weather in Boston. She was stalled out in New York and/or Washington for a couple of days... When we exited the old Imeson Terminal to make the turn South on Main Street, The SEABOARD'S SUNLAND came sweeping past us moving like a rocket. Our friend was so interested in the train, 3 big diesels in a pale green (more like an ice white-green) and red stripes, maybe 15 passenger sleek passenger cars. By the time we reached the area around 11Th or 12Th Street at Main, railroad crossings that train was already in the Jacksonville Terminal. The next winter she flew SEABOARD!
Trust me, while it was important for the early airline industry, Imeson was a speck of dust when stacked against our railroad terminals.
OCKLAWAHA
It would be really nice to have an airline that flew around the cities in Florida. SWA goes to FLL and TPA, but that's about it. Getting down to Ft. Myers is a long drive and I would be nice. Then again, so would a decent train system.
Decent train system, LOL, I saw the Auto Train sitting along US 17, near NAS Jax for 2+ hours tonight, waiting for CSX engineers to fix something, as there were 2 CSX trucks by a signal tower.
Get off public rail and you stand a chance as to decency.
I was born in Jacksonville back in the 50's, and my family goes back into Jacksonville history at least 3 generations, and the family goes back in the North Florida area at least another 2 generations before that. That in itself is a rarity, as most people I meet seem to have moved to Florida in their lifetime, or in their parents. To add a nail in the coffin (so to speak) my wife's family goes back at least 3 generations in the Jacksonville Beaches areas as well.
I was raised on the northside of town, in Highlands, back when the houses were still new, I recall going to sleep each night (pre-air conditioning of course) to the sound of the train whistle every night about my bedtime, as it traveled north along the tracks that ran along beside Main Street. And to the amazement of my children, I recall when they not only built the McDonald's on the corner of Main and Tallulah Ave, but when they first counted their burgers in the thousands being sold (lol).
Almost every Sunday, after church, (North Jacksonville Baptist, when it was on Pearl Street) we would occasionally eat at the Imeson Airport Restaurant, and then go to the observation deck at the airport to watch the airplanes (propeller driven) land and takeoff.
On one very special occasion, mt grandparents went on a trip to Hawaii, I can recall it was a time when people would dress up to fly, as if they were dressing to go to church. As the aircraft was being loaded, we got to go aboard and look around, and even visited the cockpit (unheard of these days). The stewardesses, finally called out, to all visitors to depart the plane if they were not going to Hawaii on the flight. Needless to say it was a time when you could leave your windows open and doors unlocked. Not so much a simpler time, but a more trustfull one. And one that I miss at times.
Papa Jeff......
PS. And for those that might not know it, the football field at the Gator Bowl used to run east to west instead of north to south, as it does now.
Quote from: mtraininjax on March 21, 2009, 01:28:24 AM
Decent train system, LOL, I saw the Auto Train sitting along US 17, near NAS Jax for 2+ hours tonight, waiting for CSX engineers to fix something, as there were 2 CSX trucks by a signal tower.
Get off public rail and you stand a chance as to decency.
Wow I bet that hasn't ever happened on a plane where people had to sit on the runway for an hour our two while engineers fix some problem. OK bad example I'll try again.
Wow I bet that hasn't ever happened in a car where people had to sit on the highway for an hour our two while the FHP fixes some problem. OK bad example sorry can't help you.
Don't sweat the small stuff Jeffery, these are the same guys that think air and auto travel is "FREE" and a God given right. Only the railroads should pay. That rail travel is "Just a step above a Greyhound." That Greyhound line sent me looking for a train as bad as intercity bus travel and the gentleman from the right would be happy to know I found ONE. Until 1932, the Santa Fe and Rock Island Railroads operated a Mixed Train Daily between Guthrie and Kingfisher Oklahoma. A peddler freight with an ancient baggage/mail/coach combine car on the rear. It stopped at every siding to switch cars, leaving the coach by the local station, then would creep through the weeds to the next little hamlet. But you know that Conductor became so famous that there is an Oklahoma school named in his honor? He would take on small children, school kids, packages etc... and personally make sure they were safely delivered home. OH DAMN! There I go again, guess I got to find another example.
Memories of what that speak got a certain loud mouth, anti rail senator from Arizona recently. "ARIZONA CITIZENS ARE TIRED OF PAYING FOR TRAINS IN FLORIDA, GEORGIA... ETC..." Oh my how right!
I will become decent and get off the Amtrak - Rail band wagon as soon as McCain gives Florida back all the tax money that went to the Hoover Dam. Oh, my bad, the Colorado River? Oops, California Aquaduct? Las Vegas Electric? So much for the Macho Independent Cowboy West.
We all know Amtrak is a Commie Plot to destabilize the national budget. Never forget it cost YOU the taxpayer about $30 dollars for every Amtrak ticket sold. (We just won't tell them that for every airline seat we pay about 3 x more... Auto? Holy rubber tires Batman!
I smell a TROLL
OCKLAWAHA
I am older than Papa Jeff and have FLOWN airplanes in and out of Imeson. The family airplane was based at Craig, but there were no repair facilities for electronics at Craig at the time. When the radio went bad, you would phone the tower at Imeson and tell them that you were coming, giving them a description of your airplane. When you tried to enter the pattern (carefully!) they would shine a red or a green light at you to let you know if it was OK to land. I wonder if they still have red and green spotlights in towers today?
Sometimes when the wind was just right, the foul smoke from the paper mill just off the airport would actually close it due to visibility problems when it was clear everywhere else.
Welcome Papa Jeff!!!
I've lived between Jax and Daytona all of my life but would still call myself a transplant. I'm amazed nearly everyday at some new tidbit of Jacksonville history I come across. Thanks for supplying more.
Dec. 21, 1955:
QuoteCity's first commercial air crash left 17 dead
All 17 people aboard died when an Eastern Air Lines Constellation crashed seconds before a scheduled landing at Imeson Airport.
The four-engine, 60-passenger plane was northbound from Miami to Washington, New York and Boston.
Twenty-two passengers awaited to board at Imeson.
The crash was the first of a regularly scheduled commercial airplane in Jacksonville.
The plane was making what appeared to be a routine instrument landing in fog at the Jacksonville airport at 3:40 a.m.
It clipped a stand of pines a half-mile from the runway and cut a 200-yard swath of destruction through woods and back yards of homes just west of Main Street.
Killed in the crash were 12 passengers and five crew members. Airline officials said the plane was on a "slack-time" flight. It normally carried a full load of 60 passengers.
Luggage and personal effects were scattered through the woods. The plane also carried Christmas mail and, ironically, the body of a longtime Eastern Air Lines employee being flown from Miami to Washington for burial.
Veteran observers recalled only two other major crashes in the Jacksonville area: a B-25 bomber crash at the city prison farm during World War II and an unexplained "non-scheduled flight that crashed several years ago."
Dove Etna of 202 Jericho Road, whose home was closest to the burning plane, said she looked out the window and "all I could see was a ball of flame."
"I just knew my house was going, too, and I called the fire department as fast as I could."
City firefighters and several county volunteer fire departments battled the flames until dawn. The last of the bodies was removed at 6:40 a.m.
Quote from: JeffreyS on April 27, 2009, 10:13:27 AM
Quote from: mtraininjax on March 21, 2009, 01:28:24 AM
Decent train system, LOL, I saw the Auto Train sitting along US 17, near NAS Jax for 2+ hours tonight, waiting for CSX engineers to fix something, as there were 2 CSX trucks by a signal tower.
Get off public rail and you stand a chance as to decency.
Wow I bet that hasn't ever happened on a plane where people had to sit on the runway for an hour our two while engineers fix some problem. OK bad example I'll try again.
Wow I bet that hasn't ever happened in a car where people had to sit on the highway for an hour our two while the FHP fixes some problem. OK bad example sorry can't help you.
I have read about passenger airlines that were stuck on the tarmac for hours. I recall that there was one incident that was so bad (lavatory filled with waste, passengers sweating it out in a stinky cabin) that Congress was asked to take action.
I had nooo idea this used to be the airport. growing up I just remember sears, then AOL and Prudential being in that building. This is some good history.
I remember when I worked a help desk at Prudential and I dispatched techies to the Imeson Building. I also remember when everyone and his brother was lining up for a job at AOL. It was THE job to have back then. I remember applying for a position there, but didn't get hired. My sister, however, got an AOL job. Those were the gravy days!
On another note, I worked a temp job out at Imeson. I was helping out a beer distributor. I remember driving around and seeing evidence of Imeson's past life...
Re: 1955 plane crash:QuoteThe plane also carried Christmas mail...
By father has a partially burned letter from this crash that was delivered to him with a Post Office notation that it was burned in a plane crash.
By the way, the only other commercial crash I recall here from Imeson or JIA was a regional airline flight in the 1980's, I believe, from Jax to Tampa. Forget how many died but it seems it was in the same range. Crashes are so tragic.
For anyone interested, here are four overheads of Imeson. The first is from 1943 during WWII. I believe the Army had first possession of the field, but transferred to Navy at some point. Notice the barracks at the north end of field. I believe the Navy flew light bombers from this field (Navy version of B-24). The other three photos are from 1952. One is a closeup of the terminal.
Rick
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1943
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1952
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1952
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1952
That runway going off to the northeast pointed right at the house I grew up in (about 3/4 mi away). We slept better after the airport moved.
Took my first remembered commercial flight out of Imeson on a Constellation.It was a really beautiful airplane.
Remember coming back years later on an Electra from my first flight to Europe with a couple of Dutch guys who were on business. They didn't believe me when I said that it was 36C and 90% humidity. They were wearing heavy business suits. The expression on their faces when they hit the heat, humidity and stink from the paper mill was memorable. No jetways in those days and by the time we got into the terminal their suits were soaked through with sweat.
Anyone with old photos of Imeson or the airport restaurant Please email I have been looking for pictures or videos for a long time. I used to fly a v-tail bonanza out of Laurie Young flight center. I remember when I was little my mother carried me up to Clark road to see the Eastern Airline that crashed just short of Main Street by Clark Road.
Laurie Young had a four digit pilot's license number. He was taught to fly by Wright who signed his license. He taught my father to fly in the late-1920's in a Jenny. I've got pictures of them both beside my father's Fairchild F-2 from the 1950's somewhere in the boxes of old photos. Will look for Imeson terminal pictures too, but am sure have none of the restaurant.
I Took some instrument training with Al James who used to work with Laurie. I saw Laurie many years later after he had moved to Hilliard. Had a lot of respect for both of them. I went to the University of Miami and I flew a Cessna Skymaster up from Miami for my father in law to look at . He was in the market for a plane and we let Laurie check it out for us. It turned out there were to many things to fix to make it worth while. Thanks for looking for some old pictures. If I can do anything for you let me know