Dupree Municipal Airport

The airport was closed because it was replaced by a new, superior facility built immediately to its north. This was a planned infrastructure upgrade to better serve the community. The new airport offered a longer (3600 ft vs. approx. 2300 ft) and paved (asphalt) runway, providing safer and more reliable all-weather operations for a wider variety of aircraft compared to the old unpaved/turf strip. The closure was for reasons of modernization and replacement, not due to an accident, economic decline, or military conversion.

The site of the former airport is now an empty, open field. The faint outline of the original east-west runway is still visible in satellite imagery, but the land has largely reverted to prairie grass. There are no remaining structures, and the site is unused and undeveloped. It sits directly south of the fence line of the active Dupree Airport (7F2).

The original Dupree Municipal Airport was a typical small general aviation airfield established to serve the remote town of Dupree, located within the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. For decades, it provided a vital link for the community. Its operations were primarily focused on general aviation, including use by private pilots for personal and business travel, and critically, agricultural aviation (crop dusting) which is essential for the region's economy. It was a basic facility that represented the primary air access to the area before the construction of its modern replacement.

There are no plans or prospects for reopening the old Dupree Municipal Airport. Its function was entirely and permanently superseded by the adjacent, active Dupree Airport (7F2), which fully serves the current and future aviation needs of the community. Reopening the old, shorter, unpaved runway would be redundant, economically unfeasible, and would serve no practical purpose.