PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland International Airport has come a long way to get where it is today. Wednesday's debut of the new main terminal might be the single biggest upgrade in the airport's history — and likely the most visually impressive — but it's just the latest in a long line up PDX upgrades stretching back decades.
Portland's first airport was on Swan Island, operating from 1927 to 1940. But even though it only lasted for 13 years, it began with a big event: Charles Lindbergh, the American hero only recently back from his famous transatlantic flight, arrived in the Spirit of St. Louis to kick off Portland's airport history.
But as the city grew and aviation modernized, land for a new and bigger airport along the Columbia River was purchased in 1936. Proceeds from a $300,000 bond paid for the 700 acres. There was a lot of work to do to make the future PDX a reality, according to Kerry Tymchuk with the Oregon Historical Society.
"Massive ... three or four hundred thousand cubic yards of stuff to fill in the river there, to make the airport there, to stabilize it," he said.
About half of the $3 million cost to fill in the land and build the new airport came from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration, the big effort to lift America out of the Great Depression. By 1940, the new airport was ready.
The original airport bore little resemblance to the PDX of today, with a tiny main terminal and crisscrossing runways that formed an X shape, later immortalized in the design of the famous PDX carpet, which was installed starting in 1988 — though it wasn't until years later that it became known as a premier selfie spot.
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But change and growth has always been part of the airport's DNA, and in the 1950s it was upgraded with two long parallel runways to accommodate the bigger jets that had begun flying international flights. A much larger main terminal opened between the runways in 1959, establishing the airport's modern layout.
"The original name of the airport was Portland Columbia Airport," Tymchuk said. "It didn't become Portland International until 1951, with the first international flights."
The new terminal was documented in a KGW news special that showed off the features of the improved airport, most notably the spacious main passenger lobby, described as spanning an interior distance equal to nearly two city blocks — a figure that is itself dwarfed by the upgraded terminal opening Wednesday, which has more than 1 million square feet of space, or the equivalent of xxx city blocks.
As time moved on, some airlines came and went, but the airport continued to be a place where history is made, with news crews there to document the arrival of important figures, like presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, who came to Portland for a campaign stop in 1968.
The airport is also where multiple visiting presidents have landed on Air Force One, including George W. Bush, Barack Obama and most recently Joe Biden, who stopped by in 2023.
Terminal expansions and improvements have dotted the most recent decades, along with the additions of a new FAA control tower, a parking garage and a connection to the MAX light rail system. The sweeping glass canopy that keeps travelers dry as they enter the terminal was added in 1999.
Most of the 1988 carpet was replaced in 2015, but it still holds a special spot in many hearts in Oregon — and some small bits of it have found their way into the new terminal.
All of the upgrades, plus the food, the shopping and even the live music have earned Portland International Airport some of the highest marks from travelers in numerous surveys — and the newest terminal upgrade looks ready to live up to that reputation.