Originally named Chicago Air Park, Midway Airport was built in 1923 with one cinder runway
mainly for airmail flights.
In 1926 the city leased the airport and named it Chicago Municipal Airport .

By 1928, the airport had twelve hangars and four runways, lit for night operations.
A major fire early on June 25, 1930 destroyed two hangars and 27 aircraft, “12 of them tri-motor
passenger planes.”

In 1931 a new passenger terminal opened. The following year the airport claimed to be the « World Busiest » with over 100,846 passengers on 60,947 flights.