The May 25th Chicago tribune had an article on O'Hare Airport in Chicago which was built in just one year. There were no environmental impact studies and less neighborhood opposition as there is with the planned expansion of these days.
There were some old photos as well with the hundreds who turned out for the ceremony to re-name Orchard-Douglas Field to O'Hare to honor WW II fighter pilot Edward "Butch" O'Hare, who had received a Medal of Honor from FDR in 1942. A vestige of the former name remains in baggage tags which read "ORD" for Orchard.
The current expansion program began in 2001.
After Pearl harbor, the government was looking for places to build aircraft far from the coasts. The selection of the site for O'Hare took only a couple months. There was some opposition, but the necessities of war soon squashed it. Douglas Aircraft Co. needed a safe place to build their four-engine C-54 transport planes.
Orchard Place was rezoned from farm to industrial use. Neighbors in nearby Des Plaines and Park Ridge were more interested in the potential for local taverns to do business with the factory workers.
To be Continued. --Cooter
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