{"id":582029,"date":"2026-10-21T02:01:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T16:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simpleflying.com\/night-chicago-destoryed-meigs-field-2003-runway-bulldoxing-explained\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T02:01:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T16:01:16","slug":"the-night-chicago-destroyed-meigs-field-the-2003-runway-bulldozing-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029","title":{"rendered":"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"display-card-hyperlink-article\" data-id=\"7082\"><a href=\"https:\/\/simpleflying.com\/meigs-field-2\/\" >Merrill C. Meigs Field Airport was a single-runway airport in Chicago<\/a><\/span> on Northerly Island, an artificial peninsula in Lake Michigan. The airport operated between 1948 and 2003 and was built to serve general aviation after the Second World War. In the 1950s, it became the busiest single-strip airport in the United States and had an air traffic control tower in 1952 and a terminal in 1961.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Six large X&#8217;s dug into Meigs&#8217; only runway settled a simmering dispute and put the airport out of commission for good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[396,475,6020,1472,423],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-582029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aircraft","category-airports","category-chicago-airport","category-general-aviation","category-united-states"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO Pro 5.0.3 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Six large X&#039;s dug into Meigs&#039; only runway settled a simmering dispute and put the airport out of commission for good.\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest authors\"\/>\n\t<meta name=\"google-site-verification\" content=\"1EIWGZ5FoylKQrO3pqls-2hXlDXKIP1lffdWZCVV0V4\" \/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO Pro (AIOSEO) 5.0.3\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"VibeWire Magazine - Your Alternate News Source for Transport, Politics, UFO, Paranormal, Anything\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained - VibeWire Magazine\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Six large X&#039;s dug into Meigs&#039; only runway settled a simmering dispute and put the airport out of commission for good.\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-20T16:01:16+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-20T16:01:16+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@VibewireCentral\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained - VibeWire Magazine\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Six large X&#039;s dug into Meigs&#039; only runway settled a simmering dispute and put the airport out of commission for good.\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@VibewireCentral\" \/>\n\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"aioseo-schema\">\n\t\t\t{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BlogPosting\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?p=582029#blogposting\",\"name\":\"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained - VibeWire Magazine\",\"headline\":\"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?author=13#author\"},\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/Screenshot-2024-01-07-at-2.32.21\\u202fpm.png\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/#articleImage\",\"width\":1028,\"height\":930},\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-21T02:01:16+10:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-21T02:01:16+10:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?p=582029#webpage\"},\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?p=582029#webpage\"},\"articleSection\":\"aircraft, Airports, Chicago Airport, General Aviation, United States\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?p=582029#breadcrumblist\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/#listItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?cat=396#listItem\",\"name\":\"aircraft\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?cat=396#listItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"aircraft\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?cat=396\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?p=582029#listItem\",\"name\":\"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained\"},\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?p=582029#listItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained\",\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?cat=396#listItem\",\"name\":\"aircraft\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"VibreWire Online\",\"description\":\"Your Alternate News Source for Transport, Politics, UFO, Paranormal, Anything\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/Screenshot-2024-01-07-at-2.32.21\\u202fpm.png\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?p=582029\\\/#organizationLogo\",\"width\":1028,\"height\":930},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?p=582029\\\/#organizationLogo\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/twitter.com\\\/VibewireCentral\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?author=13#author\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?author=13\",\"name\":\"Guest authors\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?p=582029#authorImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/764687183b9d2913837d7b543a5b43684d46e7eef4e1a9af4821624eb2bebbc0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Guest authors\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?p=582029#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?p=582029\",\"name\":\"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained - VibeWire Magazine\",\"description\":\"Six large X's dug into Meigs' only runway settled a simmering dispute and put the airport out of commission for good.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/#website\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?p=582029#breadcrumblist\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?author=13#author\"},\"creator\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/?author=13#author\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-21T02:01:16+10:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-21T02:01:16+10:00\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/\",\"name\":\"VibreWire Online\",\"description\":\"Your Alternate News Source for Transport, Politics, UFO, Paranormal, Anything\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vibewire.com.au\\\/#organization\"}}]}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO Pro -->\r\n\t\t<title>The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained - VibeWire Magazine<\/title>\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained - VibeWire Magazine","description":"Six large X's dug into Meigs' only runway settled a simmering dispute and put the airport out of commission for good.","canonical_url":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029","robots":"max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"google-site-verification":"1EIWGZ5FoylKQrO3pqls-2hXlDXKIP1lffdWZCVV0V4","miscellaneous":""},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029#blogposting","name":"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained - VibeWire Magazine","headline":"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?author=13#author"},"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/#organization"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-01-07-at-2.32.21\u202fpm.png","@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/#articleImage","width":1028,"height":930},"datePublished":"2026-10-21T02:01:16+10:00","dateModified":"2026-10-21T02:01:16+10:00","inLanguage":"en-AU","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029#webpage"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029#webpage"},"articleSection":"aircraft, Airports, Chicago Airport, General Aviation, United States"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/#listItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?cat=396#listItem","name":"aircraft"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?cat=396#listItem","position":2,"name":"aircraft","item":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?cat=396","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029#listItem","name":"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained"},"previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/#listItem","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029#listItem","position":3,"name":"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained","previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?cat=396#listItem","name":"aircraft"}}]},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/#organization","name":"VibreWire Online","description":"Your Alternate News Source for Transport, Politics, UFO, Paranormal, Anything","url":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-01-07-at-2.32.21\u202fpm.png","@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029\/#organizationLogo","width":1028,"height":930},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029\/#organizationLogo"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/VibewireCentral"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?author=13#author","url":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?author=13","name":"Guest authors","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029#authorImage","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/764687183b9d2913837d7b543a5b43684d46e7eef4e1a9af4821624eb2bebbc0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"Guest authors"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029","name":"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained - VibeWire Magazine","description":"Six large X's dug into Meigs' only runway settled a simmering dispute and put the airport out of commission for good.","inLanguage":"en-AU","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/#website"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029#breadcrumblist"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?author=13#author"},"creator":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?author=13#author"},"datePublished":"2026-10-21T02:01:16+10:00","dateModified":"2026-10-21T02:01:16+10:00"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/","name":"VibreWire Online","description":"Your Alternate News Source for Transport, Politics, UFO, Paranormal, Anything","inLanguage":"en-AU","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/#organization"}}]},"og:locale":"en_US","og:site_name":"VibeWire Magazine - Your Alternate News Source for Transport, Politics, UFO, Paranormal, Anything","og:type":"article","og:title":"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained - VibeWire Magazine","og:description":"Six large X's dug into Meigs' only runway settled a simmering dispute and put the airport out of commission for good.","og:url":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029","article:published_time":"2026-10-20T16:01:16+00:00","article:modified_time":"2026-10-20T16:01:16+00:00","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:site":"@VibewireCentral","twitter:title":"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained - VibeWire Magazine","twitter:description":"Six large X's dug into Meigs' only runway settled a simmering dispute and put the airport out of commission for good.","twitter:creator":"@VibewireCentral"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"582029","title":null,"description":null,"keywords":null,"keyphrases":null,"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"default","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":null,"og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":null,"twitter_use_og":false,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"BlogPosting","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[]},"schema_type":"default","schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":null,"robots_max_videopreview":null,"robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":null,"local_seo":null,"seo_analyzer_scan_date":"2026-10-20 16:11:59","breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"open_ai":null,"ai":null,"created":"2026-10-20 16:09:28","updated":"2026-10-20 16:11:59","focus_keyword":null,"additional_keywords":null,"truseo_locale":null},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"<div class=\"aioseo-breadcrumbs\"><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/\" title=\"Home\">Home<\/a>\n<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">\u00bb<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?cat=396\" title=\"aircraft\">aircraft<\/a>\n<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">\u00bb<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\tThe Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained\n<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/"},{"label":"aircraft","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?cat=396"},{"label":"The Night Chicago Destroyed Meigs Field: The 2003 Runway Bulldozing Explained","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=582029"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=582029"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":582030,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582029\/revisions\/582030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=582029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=582029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=582029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}