[3] The field is also used as a primary staging site during natural disasters, providing flight access for emergency and military personnel.

The cooperative was formed by a commission in 1950 and lasted until December 2001[6] when the South Lewis County Airport Board was created to manage the facility.

Constructed by the Civil Aeronautics Administration, the runway was built for pilot training[10] and was accompanied by a 75 foot (23 metres) communication tower in May 1941.

[13] In mid-1975, airspace over the airport was used to test noise levels of a new DC-9 Series 50 jetliner; the McDonnell Douglas aircraft, due to weight and the length of the airstrip, did not use the landing strip.

[17][18] After lawsuits and postponements, the FAA decided in September 1976 to keep the flight information station open but with severely reduced hours and staffing.

[30] Also during 2020, Lewis County proposed Ed Carlson Memorial Field as a potential site for a state initiative to build a new commercial airport in Western Washington[4] and was officially considered the following year.

[33] The airport was the last to be in contact with a Marine Corps Curtiss R5C Commando that crashed approximately 3.5 miles (5.6 km) away on the afternoon of December 10, 1946.

The station at Toledo authorized clearance for the aircraft to climb to a higher elevation due to icy conditions; contact ceased quickly thereafter and 32 men were lost.

In the 21st century, aircraft based at the airport were reported as 66 in 2003[28] and by 2016, included 36 single-engine, 6 multi-engine, the permission to host one jet and an allowable increase of helicopters on the ground from two to three.

[7] South Lewis County Airport is home to the Toledo Flying Club, a membership organization that began in 1938, though officially in 1940,[10] and offers flight instructions to participants.

[10] The flying club is the oldest of its kind in the state[5] and was host to a fly-in during the 1960s and 1970s that coincided with a local threshing bee festival.