by John Henrichs

Created on: May 13, 2009

The debate over whether Chicago needs another airport has raged since the early 1960's

I remember at the end of my senior year in high school in 1966, the guidance counselor was helping students plan for jobs at the new airport near Beecher Illinois. It was still under debate at the time, and hadn't even gone into its current, perpetual planning stage. However, the preferred site was to be in the Beecher-Peotone area, about 40 miles south of Chicago. There was never any serious talk of anywhere else.

The original plan was as the brainchild of a man named Everett Klipp, who owned land in the area. An airport in the nearby would surely raise land prices, and Klipp could make a tidy profit. While he garnered political support, the airport never materialized. The plan was heavily promoted to business interests, and Illinois route 394 was expanded to a four-lane highway, ending at Goodenow Road. Goodenow road was named after a tiny town consisting of a handful of residents located nearby. A Holiday Inn was built about a quarter-mile from the end of the highway. The highway was supposed to terminate on the airport property. Nearly forty years later, the highway ends in the same place, and the Holiday Inn, which never got the travelers they anticipated, has turned into a retirement home.

The need for this project never materialized. One of the "facts" put out in the promotional material, stated that by 1975, O'Hare airport would be at capacity, and a new airport was needed before that happened. There was no real evidence to back up this claim. Finally, Chicago's mayor Richard J Daley, father of current mayor Richard M. Daley, proposed an airport in Lake Michigan as an alternative to the Klipp site, and the airport debate came to a quick close. All the money spent in preparation for the anticipated Southern airport was for naught. The supporters simply folded their tents and disappeared.

The 1980's brought a renewed push for another airport. This time a new face was put at the front of the charge, that of the late State Senator Aldo DeAngelis. And, without any studies as to where the best site ought to be, the Klipp site was once again trumpeted. Coincidentally, Klipp was listed as a campaign contributor to DeAngelis. DeAngelis was said to dabble in real estate, while his wife pursued a full time career in it. It was the real reason for the drive to build another airport.

DeAngelis worked hard to get the State of Illinois on

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