Wisener Field

Flying magazine says the field began as an emergency landing field for Love Field in Dallas, and that it stayed open after the other such fields closed once the war ended. Wikipedia dates continuous operation by the same family to 1926. Barnstormers and military planes used it in the 1920s, Wiley Post was a frequent visitor, and one of the Department of Commerce's original beacon towers from about that decade still operates at night. Lupita Wisener has managed the field since 2012, when her husband inherited it from his father.

What the plaque says

Wisener Field The age of aviation came to Mineola on July 4, 1917, when a Curtis JN-4D "Jenny" biplane, piloted by a member of the U. S. Army Signal Corps, landed at this field. Called Massengale Meadow at the time, the site's flat terrain proved conducive to the establishment of one of the first airports in Texas. It was used by military aircraft during World War I and was the home of the Royal Flying Circus and other barnstormers in the 1920s. Expanded and improved over the years, it remains a privately-maintained public use airport. (1988)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Governor Hogg Shrine — 8.8 mi
  Quitman's 27-acre city park, once a state historical park, where two houses tied to James Stephen Hogg's marriage stand beside an arboretum, a nature walk and the grounds of the Old Settlers Reunion.
• Tyler State Park — 19 mi
  A 985-acre park eight miles north of Tyler, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1935 to 1941 around a 64-acre spring-fed lake, with more than 13 miles of trails.
• Camp Ford Historic Park — 24 mi
  A free county park north of Tyler on the site of the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi, with a kiosk, an interpretive trail and a historical society museum downtown.
• Goodman-LeGrand House and Museum — 25 mi
  A Tyler house begun in 1859 as four rooms, enlarged by the Goodman family over 73 years, and left to the city in 1939 with its furnishings, in a garden that fills a city block.

More markers nearby

• Birthplace of Miss Ima Hogg — 1.3 mi
• Gov. James Stephen Hogg and Wood County — 1.3 mi
• O. P. Pyle — 1.3 mi
• Jack Rhodes — 1.3 mi