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1934 — present
The big field was never the only ground: Two of the county's small fields belong to Mishawaka's own later history and are printed here as boundary lines only. Mishawaka Airport opened on Labor Day 1934 at Dragoon Trail and Elm Road — an air parade and parachute jumps for the dedication, a federal listing in January 1935 of 3,960 by 1,320 feet of sod — and its last press references come in May 1948, when a storm damaged its hangar; Sportsman's Airport on Day Road was dedicated as the "new Mishawaka airport" in September 1949. Both are Mishawaka's build, told there. In St. Joseph County proper, the surviving small-field layer is Chain O' Lakes, on Pine Road between Crumstown Highway and Grant Road: a private grass field activated in November 1945 and still operating. And one name survives at listing size only: Gordon Airport, on Snowberry Road south of Edison Road, appears in a Civil Aeronautics list of June 1947 as a "civil commerce airfield" and emergency landing field — a documented name and date, with its own history not reached, and printed at exactly that size.
Sources:
- Paul Freeman, "Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Northern Indiana" (airfieldsfreeman.com) and Indiana Transportation History — Mishawaka Airport (Labor Day 1934; federal listing January 1935; last references May 1948) and Sportsman's Airport (dedicated September 1949), printed as boundary lines for Mishawaka's own build.
- The federal airfield record — Chain O' Lakes activated November 1945, still operating; Gordon Airport in the CAA listing of June 1947.