Shanks Agricultural Strip

The specific reason is not officially documented, which is common for small, private airfields. However, the closure is consistent with the cessation of the private aviation operation it supported. Likely causes include economic factors, the owner retiring, or the sale of the land for its primary agricultural purpose. The land was subsequently reclaimed for farming, suggesting the aviation use was no longer needed or viable.

The site has been completely decommissioned and fully reclaimed for agricultural use. Current satellite imagery of the coordinates (29.326216, -96.021194) shows active, cultivated farmland. There are no visible remnants of the runway, hangars, or any other aviation-related infrastructure.

Shanks Agricultural Strip, also known historically as Shanks Field (its former FAA identifier was T53), was a private-use airfield crucial to the local agricultural economy of Wharton County, Texas. Its primary function was to support agricultural aviation, serving as a base for aircraft involved in crop dusting, seeding, and fertilizing the vast farmlands in the region. It typically handled small, single-engine aircraft like the Piper PA-25 Pawnee or Grumman Ag Cat. The airfield featured a single unpaved runway, approximately 2,600 feet in length. It stands as a historical example of the numerous small, private strips that were integral to American agriculture in the mid-to-late 20th century before being decommissioned. The ICAO code 'US-10466' is a non-official identifier used by some third-party databases for cataloging purposes.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the airport. The complete removal of all airfield infrastructure and the conversion of the land back to productive farmland make any future reopening extremely unlikely and economically unfeasible without a significant new driver for an agricultural aviation base at that specific location.