Bickel Airport

The specific reason is not officially documented, which is common for small, private airfields. However, the closure was most likely due to economic factors or the personal decision of its owner/operator, Irwin Bickel. Small private airports from this era often closed when the owner could no longer maintain them, sold the land, or passed away. The existence of the larger, public Keokuk Municipal Airport (KEOK) nearby meant there was no public necessity to keep Bickel Airport operational.

The site of the former airport has been completely converted back to agricultural use. Satellite imagery of the coordinates shows open farmland. A faint outline of the former north-south runway can still be discerned in the fields under certain conditions. There are no remaining airport structures such as hangars or buildings. A nearby road is named 'Bickel Lane', serving as a geographic reminder of the former airfield and its owner.

Bickel Airport was a small, private general aviation airfield. Its significance was primarily local, serving as a base for private pilots in the area. Established sometime between 1945 and 1953, it was typical of the thousands of small, privately owned turf strips that emerged across the United States after World War II to support a boom in civil aviation. Operations would have consisted of light, single-engine aircraft for recreational flying and possibly agricultural use. It featured a single unpaved, north-south turf runway approximately 2,200 feet long. It was never the primary airport for Keokuk and did not handle commercial, scheduled, or military operations.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Bickel Airport. The land is privately owned and actively farmed. With the city of Keokuk being adequately served by the Keokuk Municipal Airport (KEOK), there is no practical or economic incentive to re-establish an airfield at this location. The prospect for reopening is considered nonexistent.