Alvin Airpark

Can you imagine a time before paved runways, when airplanes took off from grassy fields? Right here at Alvin Airpark, that was once the reality. Alvin Airpark, located just a few miles west of Alvin, Texas, started as just that: a simple grassy field sometime between 1947 and 1948. The August 1948 San Antonio Sectional Chart shows the fledgling Alvin Airpark with a 2,100-foot unpaved runway. By 1955, Alvin Airpark had grown. Aerial photos reveal two unpaved runways arranged in an “X” shape, with several small buildings on the north side providing shelter for four light single-engine planes. The 1956 USGS topo map confirms this layout. A later 1965 aerial view shows two planes parked near a small hangar, still clinging to the north side. But change was in the air at Alvin Airpark. For reasons unknown, the airport closed between 1965 and 1969. A 1969 aerial view shows the runways eerily empty, the hangar gone, and no aircraft in sight. By 1970, the USGS topo map no longer marked Alvin Airpark. The land had a history even before its days as a general aviation airport. The site was once home to McNabb Flying Service, an aerial pesticide applicator. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality identified it as a potential hazardous waste site in 1984, highlighting a past life now buried beneath the Texas soil. In more recent times, glimpses of Alvin Airpark’s past have resurfaced. A 2013 photo shows the old hangars overgrown. Then, in 2019, the area around the hangars was cleared, revealing the rear fuselage of a C-47 military aircraft. A sign proclaimed the property’s new identity: the “Legacy Events Center.” But the C-47 didn’t stay. A 2021 photo shows it replaced by a North American T-28 Trojan, propeller missing, a silent sentinel watching over the ghosts of takeoffs and landings. Even in 2022, street maps still whispered the name “Old McNabb Airfield,” a reminder of Alvin Airpark’s multifaceted past. So, as you stand here today, imagine the roar of small planes, the smell of grass and aviation fuel, the camaraderie of pilots sharing stories. Alvin Airpark may be gone from the maps, but its story continues to echo in the landscape.