Nearest by
Air to Everywhere"
Kansas Citian, May 28, 1929
Aviation Promotion
m
Kansas City: 1925-1931
BY JAMES W. LEYERZAPF*
Between 1925 and 1931, the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce sponsored a major campaign to promote both commercial
aviation and the aircraft industry in Kansas City. The Chamber's
aviation promoters, led by Louis E. Holland, believed that the
city's proximity to the geographical center of the country and its
central location in the great plains made it an ideal site for the
hub of air transport systems and the center of the aviation industry. Armed with a strong faith in the city's natural advantages,
Holland and his fellow aviation enthusiasts directed an intensive
effort to make Kansas City the aviation center of the United States.
* James W. Leyerzapf is a doctoral candidate in History at the University
of Missouri-Columbia. He received the B.A. degree from Thiel College, Greenville, Pennsylvania, and the M.A. degree from the University of Missouri-
Columbia.
246
