Business View Magazine | June 2020

48 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JUNE 2020 the world. Throughout the ‘60s it continued to grow. “We had our first jet in 1966 and hosted the National Air Races in 1968,” says Bales. “Into the ‘70s, the airport continued to prosper. It was a one-runway airport and traffic was getting so busy that they acquired a used tower and had it constructed onsite. Then in the mid-‘70s the airport was considered endangered, because in those days private airports were not eligible for public funding. So they persuaded St. Louis County, the current owner, to pursue a grant from the FAA to acquire Spirit, and in 1980 it became the property of St. Louis County government. Throughout the 1980s, business had grown so much we needed to add a parallel runway and a full 110-ft. tall control tower, which was handed over to the FAA for them to man.” Then came the Great Flood of 1993 that took out 13 airports across the Midwest. Spirit was not expected to flood and had 700 airplanes at the facility. When the levee was breached on July 31st, all but a handful of airplanes were evacuated; with the exception of some that were in for maintenance and a couple of large jets that they couldn’t get out in time. The airport was under 13 feet of water at the peak, but the people of Chesterfield Valley came together and rebuilt it in record time. Spirit was reopened in 90 days and completely operational in 180 with all the tenants back in place. The good news continued in 1995-96 with the quick