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1933–2025 · South Bend International Airport — boundary size
The flagship's physical growth is documented from the 610 acres Vincent Bendix bought in 1929 to a field that today covers 2,200 acres at an elevation of 799 feet. Its three runways, per the FAA record, are 9L/27R at 4,300 feet, 9R/27L at 8,414 feet, and 18/36 at 7,100 feet. The mid-century field was smaller and differently laid out: in the 1950s runway 9 ran 5,000 feet, alongside 4,000-foot runways 6 and 12 and a 3,059-foot runway 18; runway 9 was extended to 6,000 feet in 1963–65. The passenger terminal is a 1981 building (design by HOK and Cole Associates), expanded in 2011 into a nine-gate concourse. The most recent capital chapter closed in September 2025, when a $105 million, seven-year taxiway and ramp rehabilitation was completed — $96 million of it federal money, per the 99.9 Y Country report of the completion. With the 2014 "International" renaming came a $3 million general-aviation and customs project (art-53-8). The growth had a ground cost the record notes in passing: the airport's expansion forced the rerouting of Lincoln Way West — the historic Michigan Road's course — around the field (Indiana Transportation History). Granger's share of this growth is again stated plainly: the field grew in German Township, and its growth is the measure of the traffic that left Cadet Field's Harris Township ground behind.