BOISE — The clinking of champagne glasses rang throughout the Boise Airport on Monday as the city celebrated the 100th anniversary of Boise taking flight.
It has been a century since the Boise Airport was established, and in response, the city aims to celebrate in style. In honor of its centennial, the airport will be hosting multiple events throughout the year. On Monday, this meant a ribbon-cutting to unveil a new installation featuring the airport’s history, coinciding with a live jazz band.
Just past security, a timeline of key developments is laid out on the wooden framework that emulates a Swallow biplane. The mashup of research and art tells the story of the airport.
“Our city continued to grow,” Mayor Lauren McLean said, considering modern-day Boise. “And the airport remains and always will have a key role in the city.”
The airport first opened in 1926 and hosted one of the first commercial airmail flights in the nation on April 6 that year, according to the exhibit. Airplanes were still a novelty at this time; to receive mail via an air carrier was exciting in itself.
Passenger flights were nonexistent, but slowly, travelers got on board, often sitting among packages. The airport still serves as a hub for mail carriers today.
“Our partnership with local airports like Boise is essential,” said Mike Vigil, a representative of U.S. Postal Service. “Airports facilitate the rapid movement of our mail and our packages, enabling USPS to meet the growing demands.”
City Historian Ashley O’Hara played a part in researching the airport’s history. She said the featured exhibit came together through a web of collaboration. Through the wooden structure, she has been able to see her team’s research come to life.
“Not only was the construction of the airport a community effort, but this project was as well,” she said.
Before its current home in southern Boise, the airport was located downtown. Transitioning from one monument to another, the airport’s previous location is now home to Albertsons Stadium and its blue turf.
During the original airport’s construction, Walter Varney caught wind of an investor who was thinking about pulling out of the project due to its delayed opening. O’Hara said that Varney rallied the local community, including city clubs, Boy Scout troops and other organizations, to help prepare the land for quicker construction.
“They came together, and they cleared the trees and the brush and got it ready in two months,” O’Hara said.
Revisiting the airport’s history has unearthed some fun — and quirky — facts. When the airport extended its runway to 8,800 feet, in 1938, it was deemed the longest in the nation.
On the inaugural airmail flight, two winning potatoes were sent to then-President Calvin Coolidge, “symbolically linking the state’s agricultural roots with its aviation future,” the exhibit reads.
In the 1950s, the peak of America’s UFO craze, Boise City Council adopted a fee schedule for any potential extraterrestrial visitors. Unfortunately, the fee schedule remains unused.
“The airport has been a gateway for so many,” Airport Director Rebecca Hupp said.
As visitors reflect on the airport’s past, there are also major changes coming in the future. Growth has been consistent in recent years, propelling the airport’s need for expansion. The Boise Airport had its fourth year of record-setting traffic in 2025 with 5.2 million passengers, as previously reported.
A new concourse is currently in the works, along with new parking structures, a consolidated rental car lobby and garage, and expanded aircraft parking aprons.
Chris Greene of architectural engineering firm RS&H said the firm has been working with the Boise Airport since 2007 and has completed more than 125 projects there.
“The celebration honors the people, decisions and partnerships that have shaped the airport over the last century,” Greene said about the anniversary.
McLean recalled that when her daughter was 9, the airport was her favorite place. Departing from the airport meant they were ready to travel, often to visit grandparents. Returning to the airport meant that they were home.
“It is important that we celebrate the history of 100 years and what that’s meant for this airport, the people that make it work and what it’s meant for the city,” McLean said. “It’s so exciting too, to think about, and really to dream about, what this place will look like in 100 years for the next people celebrating.”
More events are to come with the airport’s 100th anniversary. This includes First Thursday on May 7, Family Day on the airfield on June 6 and an unveiling of a mural at the airport later this summer.