PCAD Display Options
PCAD Display Options
Select theme to display preview image.
AKA: Modesto City-Stanislaus County Airport (MOD), United Airlines Terminal, Modesto, CA; Sham, Harry, Field, United Airlines Terminal, Modesto, CA
Structure Type: built works - infrastructure - transportation structures - airports
Designers: Franklin, Kump and Falk, Architects (firm); Mark Falk (civil engineer); Charles Henry Franklin (architect); Ernest Joseph Kump Jr. (architect)
Dates: constructed 1946
Modesto became the first city-operated airport in the US, opening in 1918 on an 82-acre property. City officials relocated it in 1929 to its current site, increasing its size incrementally to the current 435 acres. The City of Modesto maintained the field from 1929-1955; Stanislaus County agreed to co-finance the airport beginning 05/25/1955 with the Modesto Municipal Government. Authorities built a second runway in the 1950s. City-County Management airport renamed the field in 10/1974 for Harry Sham, the Airport Manager from 1949-1968. This terminal for Chicago-based United Airlines, was built just after World War II.
Franklin Kump and Falk worked on two terminals for United Airlines simultaneously, one in Modesto, CA, and the other in Merced, CA. The two had the same plans but different elevations. Offices for the City Airport Manager, Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) and the National Weather Service were located identically in both United Airlines Terminals.
PCAD id: 15897
