Historical Marker
Stinson Airport
San Antonio, Bexar County · Texas
Erected 2001
The field's first business was a school. Emma Stinson managed the Stinson School of Flying, Katherine financed it, Eddie cleared the mesquite and worked as a mechanic, and Marjorie, licensed at the Wright School in 1914 as the ninth American woman pilot, taught. The first class, five Canadians, graduated in November 1915, and by March 1916 the school had twenty-four students and four aircraft. Marjorie, the Flying Schoolmarm, also flew over the Liberty Bell's San Antonio visit dropping flowers. The field was renamed Windburn Field in 1927 and Stinson Field again in 1936.
What the plaque says
Stinson Airport Established by the Stinson family of aviation pioneers, Stinson Airport has witnessed the history of aviation from barnstormers to jets. Alabama native Katherine Stinson (1891-1977), hoping to win prize money to finance her musical education, convinced famed flight instructor Max Lillie of Chicago to take her on as a student in 1912. She became the fourth licensed woman pilot in the U. S. and began touring as a stunt pilot. Her family - mother Emma, sister Marjorie, and brothers Eddie and Jack- established the Stinson Aviation Company in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Marjorie and Eddie trained at the Wright Flying School in Ohio and also became pilots. In 1913, Max Lillie encouraged the Stinsons to move to San Antonio where the army had granted him permission to use the parade ground at Fort Sam Houston. Soon Katherine and Marjorie were offering instruction to U. S. and Canadian military pilots. The family leased 500 acres at this site from the city in 1916 and established Stinson Field. After the ban of civilian flights during World War I, Stinson Field became the city's civil airport in 1918. Charles Lindbergh kept an airplane and flew out of Stinson while he was stationed at Brooks Field. In the 1930s, commercial airlines began using the airport and construction of a new terminal building with Works Progress Administration funds enhanced the facility. During World War II it once again became an Army Air Corps training facility. Returned to civilian use after the war, Stinson Field became the primary general aviation airport for the city of San Antonio. (2001)
Where it stands
29.33907, -98.46773 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Mission San Juan — 0.9 miThe mission near the river bend where the San Antonio got its name in 1691, with an unfinished church foundation and farm fields still watered by an eighteenth-century acequia.
- San Antonio Missions National Historical Park — 1.7 miFour working parish churches on the Mission Trail south of downtown, with the visitor center at Mission San Jose, the Queen of the Missions, and the descendants who still worship there.
- Mission Espada and the Espada Aqueduct — 1.8 miThe southernmost San Antonio mission and the oldest Spanish aqueduct in the United States, still carrying river water over Sixmile Creek to the fields after nearly three centuries.
- Mission Concepción — 3.9 miA stone church dedicated in 1755 that has never fallen into ruin, its convento ceilings still painted, and the ground where the Texas Revolution's fight for San Antonio began.