living
Photo: P20011022000.
SCAPES
View of the hangar at the Lethbridge Municipal Airport, Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street North, 1931.
Lethbridge’s Airport
C O U R T E S Y O F T H E G A LT M U S E U M & A R C H I V E S
T R I S H P U R K I S , A R C H I V E S A S S I S TA N T
I F Y O U A R E F LY I N G to a warmer climate or vacation destination, you’ll probably be leaving from the
airport. Today, Lethbridge’s airport is south of the city.
Over Lethbridge’s history, there have been five sites for our city’s airport. The earliest was the Exhibition
Grounds, 1911–1918. In 1919 it moved in to the Lethbridge Collegiate Institute site and was located there for
a year. From there it was relocated to the Lakeview subdivision where it stayed for five years, 1920–1925, and
before moving to its present site, the airport was located in North Lethbridge at the corner of what is now
Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street North.
The Municipal Airport or “Air Harbor ”, as it was called due to its designation as a port of entry from
the United States, was built on the relatively level area in 1925 and served the residents of Lethbridge until
1937. Runway markings and surfaces, and a hangar were built right away, and in 1930 an airway beacon and
boundary lights were added as improvements. The hangar was constructed at the northwest corner of the
field.
In 1930 the Postmaster General approved Lethbridge as a port of call for Trans-Prairie Air Mail Service. That
same year the Canadian Government Grain Elevator was built at the south end of the field. The airfield space,
diminished by the elevator construction and the presence of the water tower on the north side of the field,
was deemed inadequate for larger aircraft.
When the Trans-Canada Airline was formed in 1937, it was evident that a new airfield was needed, and the
site for the Kenyon Field airport south of Lethbridge, where our current airport sits today, was approved.
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