Morrison Field
Morrison Field was a military air base and civilian airfield in West Palm Beach, Florida. It mattered for two reasons: the early growth of aviation in Palm Beach County, and the United States war effort during World War II. Opened in 1936, it was named for Grace K. Morrison, a county airfield pioneer who helped plan and organize local aviation infrastructure. What started as a modest civilian facility became a fully operational military staging base. Today, the site is Palm Beach International Airport (PBI), one of South Florida's primary commercial aviation hubs. Morrison Field didn't just disappear. It became something bigger.
Origins and Naming
Morrison Field opened in 1936, marking the start of organized aviation infrastructure in the West Palm Beach area.[1] They named it for Miss Grace K. Morrison. She'd done the early planning and organizing work that brought a formal airfield to Palm Beach County.[2] Naming the field after her was significant. It acknowledged her contributions when civilian aviation was still relatively new in the United States.
Grace K. Morrison's work fit into a larger national pattern. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, local advocates and civic boosters across the country pushed to attract airports and airfields to their communities. They saw aviation as the future. When they chose to name Morrison Field after her in 1936, it distinguished the facility as more than just a military or commercial space. It was tied to the civic history of Palm Beach County.[3]
World War II Military Operations
Everything changed when World War II started. Morrison Field went from a regional civilian airfield to a significant military installation almost overnight. The United States was expanding its armed forces and air capabilities in the early 1940s, and Morrison Field became an Air Corps staging base. Its job was simple: prepare aircraft and personnel for deployment.[4] Fighter planes and medium bombers filled the runways. By summer 1941, the base was buzzing with activity and daily military training.
What was actually happening there? In July 1941, Morrison Field had ten P-35 aircraft, three P-40s, and three medium bombers. Personnel were conducting daily Morse code classes.[5] You can see the base taking shape from these details. Young airmen learning how to operate aircraft. Learning the communication skills they'd need for wartime coordination.
The P-35 came from Seversky Aircraft. It was a single-seat fighter, in service since the late 1930s. The P-40, built by Curtiss-Wright, was one of the most widely deployed American fighter aircraft of the early war period. That both aircraft types were stationed at Morrison Field in mid-1941 tells you something important. American military aviation was in transition. Older aircraft were still flying alongside newer models in training and staging roles.
Something else happened at Morrison Field that deserves attention. Lester Orcutt, who'd later become famous for developing a low-level bombsight, designed it while stationed at the Air Corps base there. Orcutt eventually rose to the rank of colonel and organized major operations. His work tied Morrison Field to an important chapter in American aerial weapons development during the war.[6]
Notable Wartime Incidents
Large military installations attract personal drama and tragedy. Morrison Field was no exception. In July 1941, the base made national headlines. Technical Sergeant Joseph W. Peck, 38 years old, went missing. So did $600 belonging to his air base squadron. Then came worse news. They found Peck dead. A pistol shot. The military investigation ended in tragedy.[7]
The Peck incident was personal tragedy, not military significance. But it mattered in one way. National newspapers covered it. Morrison Field had become a recognizable name in American public life by 1941. What happened there was newsworthy to readers across the country. That shows how important the base had become.
Wartime Documents and Historical Memory
Morrison Field's wartime history survives through private collections and historical organizations. World War II promotion papers, military records, and other documents connected to the base have been shared through Florida history groups.[8] These artifacts matter to researchers and historians. They're primary sources. They reveal how Florida military installations fit into America's broader wartime mobilization.
Florida's location gave the state strategic value. The Caribbean lay to the south. Central America to the southwest. Atlantic shipping lanes ran nearby. Bases like Morrison Field had outsized logistical importance because of where they sat on the map.
The Museum of Florida History has documented that Morrison Field was dedicated in honor of Grace K. Morrison, which reinforces something important: the field's civilian origins and its wartime identity weren't separate.[9] Historical communities in Florida have prioritized preserving both the founding figures and the military legacy together. That's the right approach.
Transition to Palm Beach International Airport
After World War II ended, Morrison Field went through what many American military airfields experienced: conversion to civilian use. The staging base transformed gradually into what's now known as Palm Beach International Airport, with the IATA code PBI.[10]
This wasn't unusual. The federal government had poured massive resources into airfield construction during the war. After the fighting stopped, it made sense to repurpose those facilities. Commercial aviation needed infrastructure. General aviation needed space. Morrison Field's wartime infrastructure provided the foundation for civilian expansion.
Palm Beach International Airport serves the West Palm Beach metropolitan area today. It connects the region to destinations across the country and around the world. The airport's official history is clear: PBI began in 1936 as Morrison Field. That institutional continuity links the modern facility directly back to its origins as a county airfield named for a local aviation advocate.[11]
Legacy
Morrison Field's legacy works on several levels. As a civilian airfield, it showed what Palm Beach County residents wanted. They sought to participate in the early aviation age. They wanted their community connected to the broader national air transportation network. As a military installation, it trained and staged personnel. It supported weapons development. It drove the American war effort in the early World War II years. As the predecessor to a modern international airport, it established the physical and institutional foundation that still serves the region.
Grace K. Morrison's name is embedded in the field's original designation. That connection matters. She represents a broader story about civic advocates, particularly women, shaping local infrastructure during the interwar period. Her recognition in 1936 marks the contribution that individual advocates made to American aviation development outside the major cities.
The wartime activities left a documentary record. Aircraft operations. Morse code training. Weapons development. The daily routines of military personnel. Historians continue to examine these materials. The field's history spanning from 1936 dedication through wartime service to postwar transformation offers something valuable. It shows how a single site can embody multiple layers of American history in a relatively short time.
Morrison Field's story is West Palm Beach's story during a transformative period. A community building infrastructure. A community responding to national crisis. A community emerging from war with new capabilities and new direction. The airport standing there today is a direct descendant of that history. It carries forward a legacy that started with a county pioneer and a small airfield on Florida's coast.