Palm Beach International Airport origins
Palm Beach International Airport started in 1936 as a small airfield on the outskirts of West Palm Beach, Florida, originally called Morrison Field. Grace K. Morrison, a key figure in the airport's early planning and organizing, had the facility named in her honor. What began as a modest regional airstrip has evolved into the primary commercial aviation gateway for Palm Beach County. The airport's trajectory mirrors broader patterns in American aviation development, municipal ambition, and South Florida's changing relationship with air travel. In recent years, the airport has become embroiled in contemporary political debate, particularly around Florida legislative efforts to rename it after a sitting and former president. To understand where the airport came from, you need to look at its founding context, the person it was originally named for, and the long institutional changes that followed.
The Founding of Morrison Field
In 1936, commercial and civilian aviation in the United States was still young. The mid-1930s saw regional airports sprouting up across the country, driven by federal infrastructure investment and growing public interest in air travel as a practical, modern way to get around. West Palm Beach was already an established resort and commercial center on Florida's Atlantic coast. Local leaders saw the economic and logistical advantages that an airfield could bring.
From day one, it was called Morrison Field, honoring Grace K. Morrison for her work on the project.[1] The airport's historical records describe Morrison as a pioneer in the facility's early planning and organizing. Not many women of that era got formally recognized with the naming of a major public infrastructure project. Her involvement clearly mattered enough to the community to be commemorated this way.
The airfield's location was practical. It sat within reasonable distance of West Palm Beach itself, making it accessible to passengers, cargo operators, and the various commercial interests that needed reliable air connections to other Florida cities and beyond. South Florida in the 1930s was developing fast. An airfield meant long-term economic benefits for the whole region.
Grace K. Morrison and Her Role
Grace K. Morrison stands as the foundational figure in the airport's early story. Detailed biographical information about her life isn't widely catalogued in publicly available sources. Still, every source that mentions her describes her as instrumental in the planning and organizational work that made the airport happen.[2]
Naming the airfield after her wasn't routine. In 1930s America, formally recognizing a woman's contributions to a major public infrastructure project through an institutional naming was meaningful and rare. It meant Morrison's participation was substantial enough to merit permanent commemoration. Whether her role was primarily civic, financial, organizational, or some mix of those isn't fully spelled out in available sources. But her influence on the airport's founding isn't in question.
The airport's official history is direct about this: the facility "was named for Miss Grace K. Morrison, who was a pioneer in the early planning and organizing."[3] That language, straight from the airport's own institutional records, establishes her as a real participant in the project, not just a figurehead. It puts her contribution at the foundational stage of the airport's existence.
From Morrison Field to Palm Beach International Airport
Morrison Field didn't stay the airport's name forever. Over the decades after 1936, the facility changed in both physical infrastructure and administrative identity. Eventually it became what we know today: Palm Beach International Airport, abbreviated as PBI.[4]
The name shift reflected real growth. The airport had become a regional hub serving a much larger population and commercial base. "Palm Beach International" conveyed both geographic identity and expanded operations. The IATA code PBI, drawn from that Palm Beach International designation, is still used today.
But the original Morrison Field designation didn't disappear. The airport's official history continues to acknowledge its 1936 origins and the person it was named for. That historical continuity, preserved in published materials, means Grace K. Morrison's role in founding the airport hasn't been lost despite the later renaming.
The Airport in the Context of South Florida Aviation
Morrison Field opened as part of a developing network of Florida airports constructed and expanded during the same period. Florida's geography, climate, and growing population made it a natural focus for aviation infrastructure investment. Cities across the state were competing to build airfields that could attract commercial carriers and connect their communities to the national air travel system.
For West Palm Beach, the airport was part of a larger effort to establish itself as a significant urban center on Florida's Atlantic coast, separate from and complementary to the resort community of Palm Beach across Lake Worth Lagoon. An airport capable of handling commercial traffic signaled civic modernity in the 1930s. Morrison Field served that symbolic purpose as much as a practical one.
Its location in Palm Beach County meant it could serve not just West Palm Beach but the broader range of communities along the coast and inland across the county. This regional service function has always been central to the airport's identity. That's why renaming it Palm Beach International Airport, rather than something tied specifically to West Palm Beach alone, made both practical and political sense.
Contemporary Naming Debates
The question of what to call the airport has returned in a contemporary political context. Florida lawmakers have considered legislation that would rename Palm Beach International Airport after President Donald Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago estate sits in nearby Palm Beach.[5] The Florida Senate passed legislation toward this end, bringing the proposal into public debate and raising questions about the airport's institutional identity, its relationship to the communities it serves, and what criteria should apply to naming major public infrastructure.[6]
Separate controversies have unfolded alongside the renaming debate. Reports emerged that the Trump family business filed for trademark rights connected to any name change.[7] These parallel developments have complicated what might've been a straightforward legislative question, pulling the airport's naming into broader discussions about political symbolism, commercial interest, and how we govern public infrastructure.
For historians and residents interested in the airport's origins, the current naming debate inadvertently highlights how significant naming public institutions really is. In 1936, calling the facility Morrison Field was a deliberate act of recognition and commemoration. It preserved Grace K. Morrison's contribution for nearly a century. Any future renaming would carry that same weight, replacing one set of associations with another and reshaping how future generations understand the airport's identity and history.
Legacy of the 1936 Founding
Morrison Field's 1936 opening established the infrastructure foundation for Palm Beach International Airport. Nearly nine decades of operation have transformed the facility beyond anything imagined at its founding, with modern terminals, expanded runways, and service by multiple commercial carriers to destinations across the United States and beyond.
Still, 1936 remains the anchor of the airport's institutional history, and Morrison Field remains where that history begins. Grace K. Morrison, honored through that original naming, occupies a permanent place in the airport's founding narrative as someone whose early efforts in planning and organizing made the facility possible.[8]
In that sense, the airport's history is a record of both continuity and change. A facility that started with a specific local identity tied to an individual's civic contribution evolved into a regional institution serving a much broader public. The present naming debates are themselves part of that ongoing history, showing how public institutions carry meaning far beyond their operational functions.
For residents of West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County, the airport represents more than a practical transportation hub. It's a piece of local history with a defined point of origin. That origin, in 1936, under the name Morrison Field, is still the starting point for understanding everything the airport has been and everything it could yet become.