Constructed to accommodate demand for general aviation following World War II, Meigs Field also served regional commercial air travel.

With its proximity to downtown Chicago, it quickly became the busiest single-strip airport in the United States,[1] adding an air traffic tower in 1952, and a terminal in 1961.

Seeking to repurpose the land as a park, mayor Richard M. Daley forced its abrupt closure in 2003 by ordering the overnight destruction of its runway.

Chicago's first airplane flight took place in 1910 in Grant Park, adjacent to Northerly Island, with an international aeronautical exhibition at the same location in 1911.

By 1916, Edward H. Bennett, co-author of the Plan of Chicago, wrote that a lakefront location would be most suitable for an airport serving the central business district.

In the 1930s, the Chicago City Council and Illinois State Legislature passed resolutions to create the airport, but both the poor economy and World War II intervened.

That same year the Illinois state legislature deeded 24 acres (9.7 ha) of adjacent lake bottom to Chicago for additional landfill, to make the property large enough for a suitable runway.

[3] The Main Terminal Building was operated by the Chicago Department of Aviation and contained waiting areas as well as office and counter space.

Meigs Field also provided commuter airline service to the public, peaking in the late 1980s as Mayor Richard M. Daley took office.

Ozark Air Lines, a large local service airline in the midwest that primarily operated McDonnell Douglas DC-9 jets and Fairchild Hiller FH-227B propjets at the time, served the airport during the early 1970s with DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprops with up to eight round trip nonstop flights a day between Meigs and the Illinois state capital in Springfield.

[8] Numerous VIPs used the airport in order to maintain security and also to avoid inconveniencing the Chicago traveling public, including President John F. Kennedy.

In a common pattern, Air Force One would land at a larger area airport, and the President would then take the Marine One helicopter to Meigs Field to avoid the complications of a Secret Service escort via Chicago's expressways.

[10] Starting in the early 1990s, the Chicago-area Tuskegee Airmen, Inc provided free airplane rides every month and aviation education to Chicago youth at Meigs Field.

Skystream Airlines was operating Beechcraft 99 commuter turboprops on a nonstop and direct flights to Detroit Metro Airport, Indianapolis, IN and South Bend, IN.

[19] Daley defended his actions by claiming it would save the City of Chicago the effort of further court battles before the airport could close.

He claimed the closure was due to safety concerns, in particular the post-September 11 risk of terrorist-controlled aircraft attacking the downtown waterfront near Meigs Field.

[20] "The signature act of Richard Daley's 22 years in office was the midnight bulldozing of Meigs Field," according to Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn.

Instead of calling it "Northerly Island" a reference to the northernmost landmass of four others that were never built under the 1909 Plan of Chicago, "Sanctuary Point" would allow access for many more people than the fairly exclusive use as an airstrip.

[27][28] On September 17, 2006, the city dropped all legal appeals and agreed to pay the $33,000 fine as well as repay $1 million in FAA Airport Improvement Program funds that it used to demolish the airfield and build Northerly Island Park.