The human fascination with flight has been obvious for millennia, but it was only in 1903 that the Wright brothers first successfully soared through the air. Once a luxury experience for the select few, commercial air travel is now more accessible than ever, with countless airlines connecting airports around the world. But all these airports had to start somewhere, as these early images prove. The dates mentioned in the photographs refer to the year or decade in which the shot was taken. 

Click through this gallery to take a step back in time, and discover how America's airports used to look in their earliest days...

Once touted as the largest airfield in the west, Rogers Airport started life as not much more than a landing strip and an aircraft hangar with a shop. But it was nonetheless used by the city as a municipal airport for around a decade between the 1910s and 1920s. It was sold after real estate prices shot up and lucrative developments grew up around the airfield, and by 1931 Rogers Field had disappeared from street maps.

Now better known as Chicago Executive Airport, Palwaukee started operations in 1926 as Gauthier's Flying Field. The airport was not much more than a hangar with dirt runways, offering expensive private flights. It was also a flight school, which was purchased by female aviation pioneer Sally Strempel in 1950, becoming Sally's Flying School. The airport grew quickly through the 1950s and 1960s, getting paved runways, an air traffic control tower, more hangars and lighting. It's now the fourth busiest airport in the state.

A former airport in Dinner Key, Miami, the International Pan-American Airport had a short but illustrious tenure. Vacated by the US Navy after the First World War, it was turned into a hub for seaplane operators and began running services to New York, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires in 1929. It was one of the world's largest airports for a brief period and served as a hub for flights to South America, and for Pan American Airways' flying boats during the 1930s and 1940s. As operations moved to Miami International Airport after the Second World War, the need for this airport diminished. Today, it's the site of Miami City Hall, which is located in the old Pan Am terminal building. 

Better known as Teterboro Airport today, this airfield started its life as New Jersey Airport and is the oldest operational airport in the New York City area. The first plane took off from the present airport site in 1919 – its unpaved runway seen here in an image captured from a plane in 1926. Amelia Earhart flew to this airport to prepare for her solo transatlantic flight in 1932, while the then-world's biggest passenger plane, the F-32, was built here in 1930.

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Originally named Chicago Air Park, this site in southwestern Chicago has housed an airfield since 1923. Midway was the biggest and busiest Chicago airport until the building of O'Hare in 1944 and continues to be a major commercial airport. Back in the early days of the airport there were no paved runways, just dirt landing strips, and instead of air traffic control towers airport employees would wave coloured flags to indicate the landing site, as seen in this image from 1929.

Previously a cabbage patch for the nearby sauerkraut factory, this piece of land was acquired by the city of Madison in 1927 to be the city's first airport. Nearly a century later, it's now the Dane County Regional Airport, also known as Truax Field. A civilian and military airport, it was an early pioneer, earning four runways as early as 1936. During the Second World War the airfield was transferred to the US Army Air Corps, and was used as a major school for radio operators and mechanics.

Floyd Bennett Field started life as New York City's first municipal airport, became a Second World War naval station and is now part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. Thanks to New York's multiple private airfields, the city didn't see the need for its own airport until the late 1920s, when Newark Airport was already serving New Yorkers from outside the city limits. In 1927 a committee chose the location, and Floyd Bennett Field was dedicated in 1931, with concrete runways, four hangars and a terminal. By 1933, it was the second busiest airport in the US.

Initially a military airport known simply as Boston Airport, Logan Airport first opened in 1923. Its first scheduled commercial passenger flight didn't take off until 1927, connecting Boston and New York. Operations grew through the 1930s and a post-war boom saw the airport reclaim 1,800 acres of land from Boston Harbor. With American Overseas Airlines launching a regular Boston-Shannon-London service in the late 1940s, it grew to be a transatlantic gateway. Today, it is New England's largest airport, serving 42 million passengers prior to the pandemic.

Among the 30 busiest airports in the world, Newark first opened in the 1920s and has since been a stalwart of innovation. Plans for a new commercial airport were developed in 1927, and it opened a year later as the New York area's first major airport. The airport had the nation's first hard-surface runway – 1,600 feet (488m) long and topped with asphalt – which was followed by the nation's first air traffic control center in 1935. It was also the first to allow nighttime operations following the installation of runway lights in 1952. Here, passengers are seen boarding an American Airlines plane in the 1930s.

Lunken was the largest municipal airfield in the world when it was officially dedicated in 1930, and it served as Cincinnati's main airport until 1947. With regular services to and from Chicago and Indianapolis (as seen in these arrivals and departures boards from the 1930s), it also benefited from a modern terminal building, serving American Airlines and Marquette Airlines. Its position on the Ohio River flood plain worked against it (particularly after a huge flood in 1937), and it was supplanted by the new Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport after the Second World War. It's still a functioning airport and its traffic control tower remains – one of the oldest still in operation in the country.

This airstrip in Burbank, north of Los Angeles, started out as United Airport in 1930. It's sported seven different names since its inception but it remains a busy airport, especially for private jet traffic. When the airport first opened, its terminal was a charming Spanish Revival-style building (pictured), which, together with the runway, made it the largest commercial airport in Los Angeles until 1946. The old terminal building no longer exists, but there are plans to build a new terminal with additional restaurants and improved security screening areas.

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One of the world's most famous airports, LAX started life as Mines Field in 1928, when an area of wheat, barley and bean fields was repurposed into dirt landing strips. The first structure, Hangar One, which still stands to this day, was erected a year later, and by 1933 the airport had already hosted the National Air Races (pictured) twice. After the Second World War ended, the airport became the area's main hub almost overnight when American Airlines, TWA, United and Western all moved in in December 1946, with Pan Am joining the following month. In 1949, the airport was renamed Los Angeles International Airport and earned its famous moniker LAX.

Initially developed as a private seaplane base at North Beach in 1929, Glenn H Curtiss Airport was an intricate engineering project with a seaplane ramp and a concrete plateau connecting the boarding site with the terminal. It grew quickly and welcomed the world's then-largest flying boat, the Dornier Do X, after its 10-month transatlantic journey, before being renamed North Beach Airport in 1935. However, Newark was still the closest large terminal and by the end of the 1930s it was clear that the Big Apple needed its own...

The election of mayor Fiorello LaGuardia sped up the plans, and North Beach Airport's location was deemed perfect as it could take advantage of the new Queens-Midtown Tunnel to Manhattan. The shiny new airport opened in 1939, wiping North Beach Airport from the pages of history. The airport took the name LaGuardia in 1953, in recognition of the mayor's efforts. American Airlines opened its first Admirals Club (the first private airline club in the world) at LaGuardia in 1939. Today, it's consistently one of America's top 30 busiest airports.

Opened in 1927, initially to receive mail planes, San Francisco Airport is one of only a few old US airports to still be operating under its original name. The airport quickly grew and gained a Mediterranean-style terminal building in the mid-1930s, along with three large hangars. After the Second World War, the airport was among the first to launch long-haul flights to Fiji and Australia via Honolulu in Hawaii, and by 1947 Pan Am flights to Guam, Japan and the Philippines were added. Today, the airport is California's second busiest airport after LAX.

The history of flying in Billings began in 1912 when a local dentist completed a 40-mile (64km) flight in a homemade plane. But it wasn't until 1927 that a runway was approved, and the first major airline arrived six years later when Northwest Airlines introduced Billings as a stop on a Chicago-Seattle route. The airport grew quickly, with three major expansions in 1958, 1972 and 1992. Today, Billings Airport is part-way through a major renovation, while discussions for future planned expansions are ongoing.

Two privately operated airfields – Hoover Field and Washington Airport – opened in 1926 and 1927, but merged during the Great Depression to form the Washingon-Hoover Airport. The airport was clearly inadequate, and at the urging of President Franklin D Roosevelt the new Washington National Airport opened in 1941, just as America was about to enter the Second World War. Following the war, the airport rapidly expanded and became home to the country's busiest runway. Pictured are the airport's booking agents at work in 1941.

Better known by its present-day name, JFK, this New York airport was originally named after the Idlewild Beach Golf Course that previously occupied the site. Built to relieve LaGuardia, which quickly became overcrowded after opening in 1939, Idlewild Airport opened in 1948 with an intriguing feature – aircraft taxiing over the highway, as pictured here. The airport was renamed in 1963, shortly after the assassination of President John F Kennedy. Today, it's the largest and busiest airport in the New York City area.

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Mostly an agricultural area too distant to be considered a suburb, the location of Pittsburgh Airport to the northwest of the city was the perfect fit when the federal government was looking to build a military airport near the city in the 1940s. A commercial passenger terminal was opened in 1952, when the city had already expanded towards the airport and demand for air travel was soaring. The new terminal opened to much fanfare and was considered cutting edge for its time, paving the way for future airport terminal designs.

Not much more than a military base in the 1940s, Juneau Airport really got its feet off the ground after the Second World War when Pan Am launched services to Seattle via Annette Island, where travellers could connect north to Whitehorse in Canada too. The jet age arrived in the early 1960s, with Boeing 720 jet services to Seattle and Anchorage continuing to grow the airport's offering. Today, it's an important regional airport, connecting Alaska with the mainland US and beyond.

Not exactly an airport, the East Side Airlines Terminal is a curious chapter in US aviation history. It was one of three midtown Manhattan terminals, serving each of the major airports in the area. The idea was simple – customers would arrive at the terminal where they would buy tickets, check in their baggage and relax before boarding buses which transported them directly to one of the airports. The concept was relatively short-lived, opening in 1953 and closing around three decades later as airlines acquired their own baggage handling sites at airports.

Stapleton Airport opened in 1929 as Denver Municipal Airport, but was later dedicated to then-mayor Benjamin Stapleton, who spearheaded the project. The modern, horseshoe-shaped design was adapted several times, allowing convenient parking for aircraft and easy distribution of gates and passengers. However, by the 1980s the airport was facing problems the minds of the 1930s hadn't anticipated – there was no room for expansion as airlines wanted to add more planes and destinations. Most operations were moved to the newly-constructed Denver International Airport, and the terminal closed in 1995.

Proposals were afoot for a joint Dallas and Fort Worth airport as early as 1927, but it was not until the 1970s that the airport was ready for flights. Pictured here during construction, the airport was dedicated in 1973 with the first landing of a supersonic Concorde in the United States. The airport quickly grew thanks to innovations like the world's first fully automated transit system, which could quickly move people, bags and mail between terminals in huge numbers. Today, it's consistently ranked as one of the busiest airports in the world.

Now marvel at the earliest photos of the United States