Taft Airport

The specific reason for closure is not officially documented, but evidence strongly suggests it was due to economic factors, specifically the sale of the land for real estate development. The airport's location on the outskirts of Springfield made the land valuable for suburban expansion. This is a common fate for small, privately-owned airports located near growing urban areas.

The site of the former Taft Airport has been completely redeveloped and is now a residential housing subdivision named 'Lincolnwood Estates'. There are no visible remnants of the runways, hangars, or any other airport infrastructure. As a tribute to the site's aviation past, two of the streets in the subdivision are named 'Taft Street' (after the original operator) and 'Piper Street' (after the popular aircraft manufacturer, Piper Aircraft).

Taft Airport was a small, privately-owned general aviation airfield that served the local flying community of Rochester and the greater Springfield, Illinois area. Established between 1945 and 1949, it was typical of the many small airports that emerged after World War II to support the boom in private aviation. According to the 1962 AOPA Airport Directory, the airport was operated by Robert Taft and featured two turf runways: a 2,200-foot north/south runway (18/36) and a 2,000-foot east/west runway (9/27). It offered services such as fuel and minor aircraft repairs. Its significance was primarily local, providing a base for private pilots and their aircraft, rather than serving any major commercial or military function. The ICAO code 'US-10939' is a non-standard identifier used in some third-party databases and not an official ICAO code.

There are no plans or prospects for reopening Taft Airport. The land has been fully and permanently repurposed for residential use. Reacquiring and clearing the land of the existing homes to rebuild an airport is logistically, financially, and legally infeasible.