History of Tri-Cities Regional Airport

By the mid-30's, the cities of Kingsport and Johnson City were trying to obtain their own air service.  Johnson City's privately owned airfield was not large enough to be practical.  Kingsport's grass airstrip in the Lovedale section was also too small and lacked public support for expansion.  The dilemma was eventually solved when Bristol, Johnson City and Kingsport cooperated with Sullivan County to build a regional airport equidistant between them.  The government bodies settled on a 323-acre site in Sullivan County, at the geographic center of the three cities.

Before federal participation in construction could be secured, it was necessary to create an organization to buy the site and vest ownership in the municipality's names.  At the time, it was estimated that $50,000 would be required as the sponsor's share of the land purchase.  The mayors of Bristol, Tennessee, Kingsport and Johnson City, along with the chairman of the Sullivan County Court, agreed to share this cost, and to seek state legislation which allowed the creation of a governmental organization which would operate and develop the airport in the name of the owners, which participated in the following amounts:

            Bristol (TN)                 $ 8,000

            Kingsport                    $10,000

            Johnson City                $20,000

            Sullivan County            $12,000

                 TOTAL                   $50,000

Percentage of ownership was determined by the amount of investment.  Voting membership on the newly formed Tri-City Airport Commission, however, was arrived at by negotiations which addressed concerns from Johnson City that there was the possibility that they might be consistently out-voted, since the rest of the owners were located in Sullivan County.  As a compromise in agreeing to the airport being built in Sullivan County, the owners set the following make-up of the 12-member Airport Commission:

            Bristol (TN)                  2 members

            Kingsport                     2 members

            Sullivan County             2 members

            Johnson City                 6 members

In later years, the addition of Washington County, Tennessee and Bristol, Virginia would change the percentage of ownership and the number of commissioners appointed by each owner.

By September 6, 1935, the details had been completed and the necessary papers signed.  Two years later, two small runways, a terminal building and aircraft hangar had been constructed and the Airport was ready for the landing of its first commercial aircraft, an American Airlines DC-2.  Two months later, on November 5, 1937, McKellar Field, now known as Tri-Cities Regional Airport TN/VA, was dedicated by Senator Kenneth McKellar, an ardent supporter of aviation in the State of Tennessee.