Saturday, May 25, 1918, marked a major “first” in Clark County—for the first time, an airplane landed at Arkadelphia. Several thousand people gathered to watch the event. The plane arrived from Eberts Training Field near Lonoke. To the delight of those seeing an airplane for the first time, the militarily-trained pilots performed many stunts that might be used in combat.

Clark County’s air travel history extends to an even earlier time, though. In 1909, almost ten years prior to the first plane’s flight to the county, Frank Morehead and Oscar Love of Gurdon  constructed what some believe to have been the first airplane built in Arkansas.

According to the book, “Clark County, Arkansas: Past and Present,” the American Legion sponsored a visit of Trump Airways in 1926, the first passenger service company to visit Arkadelphia. Then, in 1931, Jack Smithson, an employee of the Johnson Oil Company, purchased an airplane and built a small hangar.

Efforts to build the Arkadelphia airport began in the midst of the Depression in 1933 when the federal government allocated $25,000 for that purpose. The runway was east of the Ouachita River, across from Arkadelphia. On April 24, 1934, Charles M. Taylor became the first to land on the new airfield.

Another air-service related “first” occurred in 1938, when two planes arrived in Arkadelphia to pick up the area’s first airmail. Faunt Smith drew a special cachet to commemorate the event, and the cachet was printed on the left half of each envelope mailed. The plane carried three bags of mail: one from Arkadelphia, one from Amity, and one from Alpine, for a total of about 600 to 700 pieces. From Arkadelphia, the plane flew to Hot Springs before returning to Little Rock.