T. F. Green Airport was dedicated on September 27, 1931, as Hillsgrove State Airport, drawing what was at that time the largest crowd that had attended a public function in the country. In 1933, the Rhode Island State Airport Terminal was built on Airport Road, then called Occupasstuxet Road. In 1938, the airport was renamed in honor of Green, who had just been elected to the Senate two years earlier. At the time it had three concrete runways. The Army Air Force took control from 1942 to 1945, using it for flight training. The February 1947 diagram shows runways 5, 10 and 16 all long; in April 1951 runway 5 was and 5R was under construction. A few years later 5R was , which it remained until extended to around 1967.