HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

Stinson Airport

San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Established by the Stinson family of aviation pioneers, Stinson Airport has witnessed the history of aviation from barnstormers to jets. Alabama native Katherine Stinson (1891-1977), hoping to win prize money to finance her musical education, convinced famed flight instructor Max Lillie of Chicago to take her on as a student in 1912. She became the fourth licensed woman pilot in the U. S. and began touring as a stunt pilot. Her family - mother Emma, sister Marjorie, and brothers Eddie and Jack- established the Stinson Aviation Company in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Marjorie and Eddie trained at the Wright Flying School in Ohio and also became pilots. In 1913, Max Lillie encouraged the Stinsons to move to San Antonio where the army had granted him permission to use the parade ground at Fort Sam Houston. Soon Katherine and Marjorie were offering instruction to U. S. and Canadian military pilots. The family leased 500 acres at this site from the city in 1916 and established Stinson Field. After the ban of civilian flights during World War I, Stinson Field became the city's civil airport in 1918. Charles Lindbergh kept an airplane and flew out of Stinson while he was stationed at Brooks Field. In the 1930s, commercial airlines began using the airport and construction of a new terminal building with Works Progress Administration funds enhanced the facility. During World War II it once again became an Army Air Corps training facility. Returned to civilian use after the war, Stinson Field became the primary general aviation airport for the city of San Antonio. (2001)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Founded by the remarkable Stinson family, this field has seen aviation grow from barnstormers to jets. Katherine Stinson learned to fly in 1912 to fund her music studies and became the fourth licensed woman pilot in the U.S.; she and sister Marjorie soon trained American and Canadian military fliers here. The family leased this land in 1916, and the field served as a civil airport, a WPA-improved terminal, and an Army Air Corps training base through two world wars — Charles Lindbergh himself flew out of it.

Why it matters

One pioneering family made San Antonio a cradle of American aviation, and its women pilots trained the military fliers of a new air age.

The story behind this marker

AI context

The era

Stinson Field belongs to the dizzying first decades of powered flight. When Katherine Stinson learned to fly in 1912, the Wright brothers' first flight was less than a decade in the past, airplanes were fragile contraptions of wood and fabric, and the whole enterprise of aviation was equal parts daredevil spectacle and serious experiment. To fly at all was extraordinary; for a woman to fly was nearly unheard of.

San Antonio proved to be fertile ground for this new art. The area's mild weather, open land, and growing military presence at posts like Fort Sam Houston made it a natural cradle for early aviation. As the family established itself here in the mid-1910s, the city was becoming one of the important early centers of American flight.

The timing wrapped the field's early years around two world wars and the birth of commercial aviation. In barely three decades this ground would see barnstorming stunt pilots, wartime military trainees, New Deal-funded improvements, and the first commercial airliners — the entire arc of early aviation compressed into a single Texas field.

People & events

At the center stands one remarkable family. Katherine Stinson, born in Alabama in 1891, first took flying lessons in 1912 hoping to win prize money to pay for her musical education — and instead became the fourth licensed woman pilot in the United States and a celebrated stunt flier. To learn, she had to convince the noted instructor Max Lillie of Chicago to take on a woman student at all.

But this was a family enterprise. Katherine's mother Emma, her sister Marjorie, and her brothers Eddie and Jack established the Stinson Aviation Company, and Marjorie and Eddie trained at the Wright Flying School in Ohio to become pilots in their own right. When Max Lillie urged the Stinsons to come to San Antonio — where the Army had granted him use of the parade ground at Fort Sam Houston — the family moved, and soon Katherine and Marjorie were teaching. Strikingly, these two women were instructing American and Canadian military pilots at a time when women were barred from serving as military fliers themselves.

In 1916 the family leased 500 acres at this site from the city and established Stinson Field. After civilian flying was banned during World War I, the field became San Antonio's civil airport in 1918. Among those who passed through was a young Charles Lindbergh, who kept an airplane here and flew out of Stinson while stationed at nearby Brooks Field — years before his 1927 transatlantic flight made him one of the most famous people in the world.

Its place in the American story

The Stinson story sits at the intersection of two great American narratives: the birth of flight and the slow expansion of what women were permitted to do. In an era when women could not fly for the military, the Stinson sisters were training the very men who would, quietly proving that the barrier was one of rules and prejudice, not ability.

The field itself charts the maturation of American aviation. It carried the country from the barnstorming age, through the arrival of commercial airlines in the 1930s and a new terminal built with Works Progress Administration funds, into the mobilization of World War II when it once again became an Army Air Corps training facility. Few places compress that whole evolution into one patch of ground.

And its longevity matters. Returned to civilian use after the war and serving on as San Antonio's general aviation airport, Stinson stands among the oldest continuously operating airfields in the country — a living link to the moment when Americans first left the ground in numbers.

If you visit

Come here with the long view of aviation in mind. This is ground that has watched flight grow from fabric-winged biplanes to modern aircraft, and part of its power is simply how ordinary it looks for a place where so much history happened. Small general-aviation fields have a particular charm — you're close to the aircraft, close to the runway, close to the human scale on which flying began.

Hold onto the image of the Stinson sisters as you look out over the field: two young women in the 1910s teaching military men to fly, on land their family leased from the city. That fact reframes everything you see. And remember that a young Charles Lindbergh once kept a plane and flew out of this same place, long before the world knew his name.

Stinson makes a natural stop on a San Antonio history trip, part of a city rich in early-military and aviation heritage. Watch a light plane take off and let it connect you, across more than a century, to the pioneers who first made this ground famous.

Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.

Plan your visit

Nearby

Make a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.

Museums & culture

Attractions

Food & drink

  • Margaritaville
    5.9 mi away · 849 East Commerce Street, San Antonio, TX
  • Chipotle
    6.0 mi away · 849 East Commerce Street, San Antonio, TX
  • Taco Bell
    6.0 mi away · 849 East Commerce Street, San Antonio, TX
  • McDonald's
    6.0 mi away · 101 Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, TX
  • Which Wich?
    6.0 mi away
  • Starbucks
    6.0 mi away · 849 East commerce, San Antonio, TX

Places to stay

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Related people

  • · Katherine Stinson
  • · Marjorie Stinson
  • · Charles Lindbergh

Themes & tags

Innovation & FlightWomen's HistoryLandmark

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