Great Lakes Cities

[PoshSteve]

Yes, its coming up again for Cleveland's lakefront airport to be shut down. We have these discussions regularly, but this time the mayor's office is supportive. It's brought up all the time that we should just follow our big brother Chicago's lead and take some bulldozers to it in the middle of the night!

[Steely Dan]

Guys, we're moving on from the tiresome, and increasingly off-topic, Canada vs. USA bullshit.

Now back to our regularly scheduled Great Lakes programming!

[Docere]

Yeah, it was a terrible idea. Pearson Airport is a 20 minute trip from Union Station via the Union Pearson (UP) Express. There was no need for it.

[Steely Dan]

All three of these small lakefront airports at Chicago, Cleveland, and Toronto were bad ideas.

There is virtually unlimited flat land in the Great Lakes region to build airports upon, and some knuckleheads in the past were like:

"Hey, I have a great idea, instead of building an airport on any of the other 8 billion acres around here, why don't we take these precious 200 acres of limited lakeshore land and totally waste 'em with a do-little airport?"

"Brilliant!

"Genius!!!"



Thank god the worst of the thinking back in the bad old days never got off the ground:

An airport in the lake: How Mayor Richard J. Daley’s ambitious plan failed to take flight

[PoshSteve]

The Cleveland lakefront airport, Burke, was originally kept busy by the Fed bank branch downtown. When checks were prevalent, they needed the close access to an airport for getting them out in a timely manner. Time was money. Now with ACH and electronic payments, the Fed doesn't need the airport like they did and traffic has dropped off.

Not sure what Chicago's Fed did or if there is anything similar in Toronto, but could that be a reason why these cities have these airports and similar places like Detroit, Buffalo and Milwaukee do not?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by PoshSteve

Not sure what Chicago's Fed did

I don't know either, but Google AI says Meigs Field in Chicago was not used to move checks.

Google AI: No, Meigs Field was not used by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to fly in or move paper checks. That logistical role is commonly misattributed or confused with other downtown waterfront airstrips like Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport, which historically handled check-processing flights.

[Docere]

Toronto's island airport dates back to the 1930s. During World War II, it was used as a training facility for the Norwegian air force.

The baseball stadium at Hanlan's Point (where the Triple A Toronto Maple Leafs team played) was demolished for the airport. Babe Ruth (then playing for the Providence Grays) hit his first home in his professional career run there.

[benp]

Originally Posted by PoshSteve

The Cleveland lakefront airport, Burke, was originally kept busy by the Fed bank branch downtown. When checks were prevalent, they needed the close access to an airport for getting them out in a timely manner. Time was money. Now with ACH and electronic payments, the Fed doesn't need the airport like they did and traffic has dropped off.

Not sure what Chicago's Fed did or if there is anything similar in Toronto, but could that be a reason why these cities have these airports and similar places like Detroit, Buffalo and Milwaukee do not?

Buffalo did have a sea-plane airport from the late 1920s to early 1930s just north of downtown at what is now Ralph Wilson Centennial Park. It lasted until the winter of 1932-33 when ice remained longer than expected, grounding the planes, and eventually the owners relocated the planes and facilities to San Diego.

Buffalo's Short-lived Marine Airport

Boat Launch and Seaplane History

Up through WW2, Buffalo was a major aircraft manufacturer, and besides Buffalo and Niagara Falls Airports there were also small airfields located within the city limits in North Buffalo and on the East Side where newly-built planes were launched and tested.

[Docere]

How many Great Lakes cities have a ski hill in city limits?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5JNnfKc12M

The elevation of Earl Bales ski hill is 183 m (600 ft) Not quite the highest point in Toronto which is in the city's northwest near York University, 209 m (685 ft).

The Lake Ontario shoreline is 75 m (245 ft), so from the lake to the highest point is 134 m/440 ft.

[Steely Dan]

Chicago, sitting on former lake bed, not only doesnt have any ski hills, it doesnt even have regular hills.

Thats not entirely true as there are some small hills down in Beverly.

Chicago has a lot of cool aspects, but topographical variation aint one of them.

This shit is F-L-A-T.