Imeson Airport and Lucky Lindy ( Charles Lindbergh)
Known as Jacksonville Municipal Airport, it was a working flight center from 1927-1968. Growing up, we called it “Imeson Airport” named after Thomas Cole Imeson, the first President of Southeast Airmail Association and a city commissioner.
For many years we rode past it after it was closed. I never remember actually being on the property until this year when a friend and I set out to find what was left. She said she picked up her cousin from Atlanta there once and literally waited on the tarmac for the plane to land where she met her outside when she walked out of the plane. That was about in the mid 1960s she said.
At some point, Imeson was a big deal and later deemed as an Army Air Force facility. According to reports, it was located off of North Main Street, began with a grass runway, by 1934 had a sandy, sodded, surfaced” and a gravel-type runway. The airport grew to over 600 acres and 5 hangars with asphalt runways by 1941. When Imeson died in March of 1948, the JMA was renamed in his honor.
On the day the Jacksonville Municipal Airport opened, the famous Charles Lindbergh came that October 11, 1927 along with his airplane, “Spirit of St. Louis”. Charles Lindbergh had just breaking news of his trans-Atlantic solo flight and was being celebrated world-wide. News reports were about the tremendous crowd of some 150,000 at the Duval County airport on that day.
Many famous people have flown in or out at Imeson Such as Richard Nixon, Martin Luther King, The Beatles( 1964), John F. Kennedy, Rose Kennedy, his mother. Amelia Earhart was in Jacksonville on March 1, 1936 as reported in the Times-Union but it does not mention if she rode in a car, train, or flight.
There were rails to be ridden and the train line was an important part of Jacksonville’s transportation at that time.
As history notes, Eastern Air Services, now Eastern Airlines was the first passenger airline. Over the years Imeson Airport served flights for personal, military, World War II flights, Army Air Corps, and more. Following the war, with less need for military services and with the sight of a new airport on the rise, the base was closed in 1946. Over the years it was used by other needs concerning flight including the Air Force, Air National Guard’, Fighter groups and more. By 1970 it becomes Webb International Inc. and made into a commerce center.
As recent as 2022, at least 1.2 million square feet of industrial space at Imeson Park South was under review by the City of Jacksonville so things out there continue to change.
Looking at the area today, there is no evidence of an airport unless a large cemented area was possibly used for runway access. There are some very large cement pilings but other than that, it is definitely an industrial complex of large business buildings.The East end of Imeson Blvd was reportedly resurfaced from part of the runway to the road where people now drive. We flew down it today, so-to-speak.
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Sources: Google, Wikipedia, Bizjournal, Times-Union, Florida Memory, USDT, Personal Visit