Stapleton International Airport retail and residential neighborhood. Stapleton opened on October 17, 1929 as Denver Municipal Airport. The development of the airport was spearheaded by Denver mayor Benjamin F. Stapleton and Improvements and Parks Department manager Charles Vail. Prior to the new airport's opening, Denver had been served by a number of smaller facilities, including an airstrip along Smith Road in Aurora (first used in 1911), an airfield at 26th Avenue and Oneida Street, Lowry Field near 38th Avenue and Dahlia Street, and Denver Union Airport at 46th Avenue east of Colorado Boulevard. In the late 1930s the airport facilities consisted of two
Stapleton International Airport Stapleton Airfield in 1944, in honor of Mayor Stapleton. Stapleton's modern horseshoe-shaped terminal design was first announced in 1946 and promptly shelved by incoming mayor James Newton. The original administration building was extended with new wings in the early 1950s, and replaced entirely in 1954. By the early 1950s, the airport was served by five major airlines. United connected Denver to both coasts, with multi-stop routes extending to Boston, New York and Washington in the east, to major cities on the West Coast, and to Honolulu. Braniff operated routes from Denver to Texas, with connections to South America. Continental connected