The development of the airport was spearheaded by Denver mayor Benjamin F. Stapleton and Improvements and Parks Department manager Charles Vail.

[4] In the late 1930s the facilities consisted of two hangars and a small administration building mainly used for air mail processing.

[3] The March 1939 Official Aviation Guide (OAG) shows nine weekday departures: seven United and two Continental.

[3] Stapleton's modern horseshoe-shaped terminal design was announced in 1946, and was shelved in 1947 by incoming mayor James Newton.

The April 1957 OAG shows 38 daily United departures, 12 for Continental, 7 Braniff, 7 Frontier, 7 Western, 5 TWA and 1 Central.

[18] In 1983 Arrow Air introduced transatlantic services to London and Manchester, and Condor flew a weekly charter to Frankfurt, Germany.

To combat congestion, runway 18/36 was added in the 1980s and the terminal was again expanded with the $250-million (or $58-million according to the New York Times[21]), 24-gate Concourse E opening in 1988, despite Denver's replacement airport already being under construction.

[26] Continental closed its Stapleton pilot and flight attendant bases in October 1994, reducing operations and making United the airport's largest carrier.

[27] On the other hand, despite leaving Stapleton in the 1980s due to congestion, the new Denver International Airport would eventually become Southwest's largest base.

After Flight 34 cleared the runway at 9:39 pm,[30] the airport was shut down, marking the end of 65 years of service.

[31] A convoy of ground service equipment and other vehicles (rental cars, baggage carts, fuel trucks, etc.)

The runways at Stapleton were then marked with large yellow "X"s, which indicated it was no longer legal or safe for aircraft to land there.

Denver sought tenants for Stapleton's terminal and concourses, but these buildings proved ill-suited for alternative uses.

A July 1997 hailstorm punched several thousand holes in the roofs of the old terminal and concourses, causing water damage, which compelled the city to tear them down.