Detours Through Time

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Richmond Municipal Airport

Richmond Municipal Airport terminal. Photo taken May 16th 2026.

It comes as no surprise that Richmond has an airport, considering the Wright Brothers, the founders of aviation, lived in Richmond from 1881 to 1884. On July 4th 1945, the airport was dedicated in its current location six miles south of Richmond. Roughly 50,000 people were in attendance for the grand opening. The seemingly quiet airport serves 7,000 to 10,000 aircraft each year from single-engine planes to Gulf Stream jets1.

The sign out front of the airport along IN-227. Photo taken May 16th 2026.

A proposal to expand the single baseball field into multiple baseball diamonds for public use was considered in 1976. Boston players could use the existing diamond already, but adding more space for players could also allow nearby Garrison Elementary students to have a place to play little league within their district2. I am not sure when the first baseball diamond was put in, but my guess is it was relatively new at the time considering the 264 square-foot concession stand was built in 19763. The following April, youth from the Charles, Boston, and Garrison school districts had their opportunity to sign up for Little League baseball atthe airport4.

Former concession stand out front of the airport. Photo taken May 16th 2026.

I spent a lot of summers at the airport when I was a kid. What was once diamonds for t-ball, softball, and baseball were razed in 2009 to return to fields for agriculture5. All of the improvements built for the ball diamonds have been removed aside from the former concession stand which appears to be used for storage today.

Jim Dorsey of Preble County, Ohio, performed his famous wing-walk aerial stunt at the Richmond Area Rose Festival Air Show in June of 1978. Dorsey was an acrobatic instructor who became well-known for performing these stunts. Photo courtesy of page 42 of the June 15th 1978 edition of Palladium-Item.

The 1978 National Parachuting Championships took place at the Richmond Municipal Airport. The three-week event began June 24th and brought in roughly 2,000 skydivers from across the United States. Skydivers competed in both individual and team events in attempt to earn spots in Yugoslovia for the 1979 world competition. (Read more from Palladium-Item Jun 17 1978 p31)

Sources:

  1. Louise Ronald. Serving Richmond and Wayne County from the Sky. Web Retrieved 2026 July 21.
  2. Aviation Commission Charged With Land Rental Underbilling. (1976 September 2). Palladium-Item. P 3.
  3. Beacon. Parcel 891826000309000033. Web. Retrieved 2026 July 24.
  4. Palladium-Item. (1977 March 27). P 5.
  5. (see footnote 3)

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