Chicago's Midway Airport: The First Seventy-five Years by Christopher Lynch Lake Claremont Press Phone: 773/583-7800 http://www.lakeclaremont.com/

In April 2002, observers of Midway Airport’s long history witnessed the end of an era. The original control tower built in 1948 was demolished as part of the ongoing construction of a new Midway Terminal. It was also a melancholy moment, since that tower stood as an emblem of Midway at a time when the airport was literally the crossroads of the world.

It was not the airport’s first tower. A simple structure, resembling a wooden fire-station, was built in 1928. The airport’s first terminal built in 1931 would then acquire over tower duties. Yet the tower in question was built in 1948 when a new terminal was erected at 5700 S. Cicero Avenue to accommodate the ever rising level of airline passenger service.

The base of the tower was the location of the famed Cloud Room restaurant, while its crown housed the controllers who monitored the frenzy of activity on the filed. The tower’s name was invoked on the radio of any arriving aircraft or departing aircraft. In a way, it was the brain of the organic mechanism of a modern airport.

And the tower became famous as well, becoming a backdrop in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, while the secrets of the film’s plot are revealed to Cary Grant on Midway’s tarmac, with the tower illuminated in the background.

In later decades, the tower’s symbolism would shift, as the airport became neglected and ignored by the major airlines after their move to O’Hare in 1962. A few years later, it’s base would be remodeled when the terminal was again redesigned in the late 1960's, and the space that occupied the Cloud Room became a security office.

The tower would stand witness to the resurgence of the airport after deregulation of the airline industry in the late 1970's, and Midway Airlines became a new, and regenerating presence on the field.

After 54 years, Midway’s tower became a relic of the past, finally meeting the wrecking ball. The airport’s resurgence should be applauded, but progress doesn’t necessarily demand that the past be forgotten. The tower was a landmark that represented an exciting age in Chicago transportation history, but could also be more personal. For many returning Chicago passengers, weary from travel, the sight of the the tower meant that they were finally home.