Where is Terminal 1?

On July 16, 1935, the city of Phoenix became the owner of Sky Harbor Airport, nicknamed “The Farm” because of its isolated, rural location. For $100,000, the city purchased the airport’s 285 acres from the Acme Investment Company.

Phoenix Sky Harbor began emerging as one of the nation's major passenger airports in 1952 with the opening of Terminal 1. Built at a cost of $835,000, Terminal 1 was among the most modern and efficient passenger terminals of its time.

Airlines flying into Phoenix at that time included American, TWA, Frontier and Western. Typical airplanes were the DC-3, the DC-6 and the Super Constellation. Later Western Airlines flew Lockheed Electras into Phoenix and Bonanza Airlines, United and Delta Airlines began service.

The air traffic control tower, made of underground fuel storage tanks welded together, was the most distinguishing feature of Terminal 1. All the wiring was in a three and one-half-foot-wide pipe that ran up the center of the tower and a 129-step spiral staircase was the only access.

Terminals were added over the years to accommodate increasing traffic, and in 1991 Terminal 1 was demolished, but the other terminals were never renumbered.

Terminal 2