City of New York Municipal Airports

This 1937 poster promoting New York City's Municipal Airports represents Mayor Fiorello La Guardia's ambitious vision for establishing New York as America's premier aviation hub during the golden age of flight. Created by the WPA Federal Art Project as a silkscreen color print, the poster advertises Floyd Bennett Field (Municipal Airport No. 1), North Beach facility that would soon be renamed LaGuardia Airport (Municipal Airport No. 2), and the East River and Wall Street seaplane bases. The sleek Art Deco design, featuring streamlined aircraft soaring above stylized clouds, captures the period's technological optimism and faith in aviation as the transportation mode of the future.

La Guardia, himself a former aviator, championed municipal airport development as essential infrastructure for modern commerce and civic prestige, personally overseeing expansion projects despite opposition from private aviation interests. The poster's creation by WPA artists exemplifies New Deal policy's dual objectives: employing artists during the Depression while promoting public works that demonstrated government's capacity to build modern infrastructure. The emphasis on multiple airports and seaplane facilities reflects the 1930s aviation landscape before long-range land planes made seaplane terminals obsolete. This poster documents a pivotal moment when flight transitioned from novelty to necessity, and cities competed to establish aviation dominance that would determine their economic relevance in an increasingly interconnected world. The inclusion of Commissioner John McKenzie's name alongside the mayor's signals the bureaucratic apparatus required to transform La Guardia's aviation ambitions into physical reality.