| Revision as of 04:09, 13 July 2006 edit202.59.16.74 (talk) Deleted link to poor quality site which violates NPOV and with no/little cites.← Previous edit | Revision as of 16:04, 16 July 2006 edit undoFilmore the Elephant (talk | contribs)5 editsNo edit summaryNext edit → | ||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| ] ])]] | |||
| '''Exxon''' and ] are the two heritage petrochemical companies that merged in 1999 to form the ] | |||
| '''Stapleton International Airport''' was ], ]'s primary ] from 1929 to 1995. At different times it served as a hub for ], ], ] and ] as well as a hub for ] and ] when the airport was closed. In 1995, Stapleton was replaced by ]. It has now been decommissioned, and redeveloped as a neighborhood. | |||
| ] | |||
| ==History== | ==History== | ||
| Stapleton was opened on ], ] as '''Denver Municipal Airport''', which was later renamed to '''Stapleton Airfield''' after expansion in 1944. The renaming was in honor of ], the city's ] most of the time from 1923 to 1947, and the major force behind the project when it began in 1928. | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ''Exxon'' formally replaced the '']'', ''Enco'', and ''Humble'' brands on ], ], in the ]. The name ''Esso'', pronounced ''S''-''O'', attracted protests from other ] spinoffs because of its similarity to the name of the parent company, ''Standard Oil''. Hence, the company was restricted from using ''Esso'' in the USA except in those states awarded to it in the ]. In states where the Esso brand was blackballed, the company marketed its gasoline under the Humble or Enco brands. The Humble brand was used at Texas stations for decades as those operations were under the direction of Jersey Standard affiliate, ], and in the mid-to-late 1950s expanded to other Southwestern states including ], ] and ]. | |||
| ===Air disasters=== | |||
| In 1960, Jersey Standard gained full control of Humble Oil and Refining Co. and, through a reorganization of the company, restructured Humble into Jersey's domestic marketing and refining division to sell and market gasoline nationwide under the Esso, Enco and Humble brands. The Enco brand was introduced by Humble in 1960 at stations in ] but was soon blackballed after Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio) protested that Enco (Humble's acronym for "ENergy COmpany) sounded and looked too much like Esso as it shared the same oval logo with blue border and red letters with the two middle letters the only difference. At that point, the stations in Ohio would be rebranded Humble until the name change to Exxon in 1972. | |||
| Several major air ]es involved Stapleton as the origin airport, while only one major air disaster occurred there. | |||
| *On ], ], ] exploded over nearby ] while en route to ] from Stapleton, killing all 44 persons on board. A man named ] was found to have planted a ] bomb in a suitcase that was loaded onto the plane in order to murder his mother and collect insurance money. He was executed two years after Flight 629 exploded. | |||
| After the Enco brand was discontinued in Ohio, it was moved to other non-Esso states. In 1961, Humble stations in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona were rebranded as Enco and the Enco brand appeared on gasoline and lubricant products at Humble stations in Texas that same year with service stations there changed to Enco in 1962. By that time, Jersey had expanded the Enco brand to stations in the Midwest and Northwest that had been operated by various subsidaries such as Carter, Pate and Oklahoma among others. | |||
| * On ], ], ] crashed due to windshear after taking off and climbing to 100 feet on runway 35L. Fortunately, nobody was killed in the accident. | |||
| *On ], ], ], which took off from Stapleton, made a forced landing near Portland, Oregon. Ten people died while 179 survived. | |||
| *On ], ], when ], a ]-14 jetliner, crashed on takeoff during a snowstorm. The probable cause of the crash was the failure of the flight crew to have the aircraft de-iced prior to take-off and the over-rotation of the aircraft on take-off. Twenty-eight persons were killed, while 54 survived. It was the only fatal crash at Stapleton. | |||
| *On ], ], ], a ], crash-landed at the ] airport on a flight which originated at Stapleton. Flight 232 experienced a catastrophic engine failure over ] on a flight to ]. One hundred and eleven people died in the crash, while 185 survived. | |||
| ===Jet age=== | |||
| In 1963, Humble was approached by Tidewater Oil Company, a major gasoline marketer along the eastern and western seaboards, to purchase the firm's refining and marketing operations on the west coast, a move that would have given Humble a large number of existing stations and a refinery in California, which was then the fastest-growing gasoline market. However, the ] objected to Humble's plan to purchase Tidewater's west coast operations, which were later sold to ] in 1966. Meanwhile, Humble gradually built up new and rebranded service stations in California and other western states under the Enco brand and purchased a large number of stations from Signal Oil Company in 1967, followed by the opening of a new refinery ] in 1969. | |||
| The facility received a new jet runway and terminal building in the 1960s. After deregulation, three different airlines operated large hubs out of Stapleton (], ], and ]), leading to large levels of congestion. In order to combat the congestion, a new runway was added (36/18) in the 1980s and the terminal was again expanded. At the time of its closure in 1995, Stapleton sported six runways (2 sets of 3 parallel runways) and five terminal concourses. | |||
| ==Decommissioning== | |||
| In 1966, the Justice Department ordered Humble to "]" from using the Esso brand at stations in several Southeastern states following protests from Standard Oil of Kentucky (a ] subsidiary by that time and in the process of rebranding the Kyso stations as ]). By 1967, stations in each of those states were rebranded as ]. | |||
| By the 1980s, plans were underway to replace Stapleton with a new airport. Stapleton was plagued with a number of problems, including: | |||
| *inadequate separation between runways, leading to extremely long waits in bad weather | |||
| *a ] over ], brought by residents of nearby Park Hill community | |||
| *legal threats by ] to block runway extension into ] lands. | |||
| While there was ample evidence to support the argument that Stapleton was truly plagued by these problems, some people continue to maintain that the construction of ] was nothing more than expensive politics. | |||
| The Colorado General Assembly brokered a deal in 1985 to annex a plot of land in Adams County into the city of Denver, and use that land to build a new airport. Adams County voters approved the plan in 1988, and Denver voters approved the plan in a referendum in 1989. | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| Despite the success of the "Put A Tiger In Your Tank" advertising campaign introduced by Humble in 1964 to promote its Enco/Esso Extra gasolines, the similar logotypes, use of the Humble name in all Esso/Enco ads and the uniformity in design and products of Humble stations nationwide, the company still had difficulties promoting itself as a nationwide gasoline marketer competing against truly national brands such as ] - then a 50-state marketer and the only company selling products under one brand name in each state. Humble officials realized by the late 1960s that the time had come to swallow its pride by developing a new brand name that could be used nationwide throughout the U.S. At first, consideration was given to simply rebranding all stations as "Enco" but that was shelved when it was learned that "Enco" is a [[Japanese language| | |||
| Japanese]] abbreviation of "engine failure." (エンジン故障, ''enjinkoshou'') | |||
| On ], ], the last commercial flight left Stapleton, which was replaced by the new Denver International Airport. Stapleton was closed later that evening, and a massive ] of all airport vehicles (everything from baggage carts to rental cars) headed for DIA, which opened the following morning. White "X"es were placed across all Stapleton ]s to keep ] from landing at the now-closed airport. DIA dropped DVX and KDVX as its temporary ]s, adopting Stapleton's DEN and KDEN. Visitors to or from Denver at that time had the unusual experience of arriving at a different airport than they left the same city from. | |||
| In order to create a unified brand, the company changed its corporate name from ''Jersey Standard'' to ''Exxon'', rebranding all its U.S. stations under the latter title in the summer and fall of 1972 following the successful test marketing of the Exxon brand and logo in late 1971 and early 1972 at rebranded Enco/Esso stations in certain U.S. cities. However, the unrestricted international use of the popular brand ''Esso'' prompted the company to continue using ''Esso'' outside of the USA. ''Esso'' is the only widely used Standard Oil brand left in existence. Other Standard Oil descendants, such as ] and ], do however maintain a few stations with the ''Standard Oil'' brand in specific states in order to retain their trademarks and prevent others from using them. | |||
| All of Stapleton's airport infrastructure has been removed except for the control tower, which will remain standing as a reminder of the site's former days. The parking structure also remains standing. | |||
| The rectangular ''Exxon'' logo with the blue strip at the bottom and red lettering with the two "X's" interlinked together was designed by noted industrial stylist ]. The interlinked "X's" are incorporated in the modern-day ExxonMobil corporate logo, but the original Exxon sign continues for marketing efforts and station signage. | |||
| ==Redevelopment== | |||
| ] | |||
| While Denver International was being constructed, planners began to decide how the Stapleton site would be redeveloped. A private group of Denver civic leaders, the Stapleton Development Foundation, convened in 1990 and produced a master plan for the site in 1995, emphasizing a pedestrian-oriented design rather than the automobile-oriented designs found in many other planned developments. Nearly a third of the airport site was slated for redevelopment as public park space. | |||
| The former airport site is now being redeveloped as the largest ] project in the ]. Construction began in 2001, and ], over a thousand homes have been built on the Stapleton site. The new ] is ] for residential and commercial development, including office parks and "big box" shopping centers. Stapleton is by far the largest neighborhood in the city of Denver, and an eastern portion of the redevelopment site lies in the neighboring city of ]. Eventually, Stapleton will be home to at least 30,000 residents. | |||
| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
| * | * | ||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ] | |||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ] | |||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ] | |||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ] | |||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
Revision as of 16:04, 16 July 2006
Stapleton International Airport was Denver, Colorado's primary airport from 1929 to 1995. At different times it served as a hub for TWA, People Express, Frontier Airlines and Western Airlines as well as a hub for Continental Airlines and United Airlines when the airport was closed. In 1995, Stapleton was replaced by Denver International Airport. It has now been decommissioned, and redeveloped as a neighborhood.
History
Stapleton was opened on October 17, 1929 as Denver Municipal Airport, which was later renamed to Stapleton Airfield after expansion in 1944. The renaming was in honor of Benjamin F. Stapleton, the city's mayor most of the time from 1923 to 1947, and the major force behind the project when it began in 1928.
Air disasters
Several major air crashes involved Stapleton as the origin airport, while only one major air disaster occurred there.
- On November 1, 1955, United Airlines Flight 629 exploded over nearby Longmont, Colorado while en route to Portland, Oregon from Stapleton, killing all 44 persons on board. A man named John "Jack" Gilbert Graham was found to have planted a dynamite bomb in a suitcase that was loaded onto the plane in order to murder his mother and collect insurance money. He was executed two years after Flight 629 exploded.
- On August 7, 1975, Continental Airlines Flight 426 crashed due to windshear after taking off and climbing to 100 feet on runway 35L. Fortunately, nobody was killed in the accident.
- On December 28, 1978, United Airlines Flight 173, which took off from Stapleton, made a forced landing near Portland, Oregon. Ten people died while 179 survived.
- On November 15, 1987, when Continental Airlines Flight 1713, a Douglas DC-9-14 jetliner, crashed on takeoff during a snowstorm. The probable cause of the crash was the failure of the flight crew to have the aircraft de-iced prior to take-off and the over-rotation of the aircraft on take-off. Twenty-eight persons were killed, while 54 survived. It was the only fatal crash at Stapleton.
- On July 19, 1989, United Airlines Flight 232, a DC-10-10, crash-landed at the Sioux City, Iowa airport on a flight which originated at Stapleton. Flight 232 experienced a catastrophic engine failure over Alta, Iowa on a flight to Chicago, Illinois. One hundred and eleven people died in the crash, while 185 survived.
Jet age
The facility received a new jet runway and terminal building in the 1960s. After deregulation, three different airlines operated large hubs out of Stapleton (Frontier Airlines, Continental Airlines, and United Airlines), leading to large levels of congestion. In order to combat the congestion, a new runway was added (36/18) in the 1980s and the terminal was again expanded. At the time of its closure in 1995, Stapleton sported six runways (2 sets of 3 parallel runways) and five terminal concourses.
Decommissioning
By the 1980s, plans were underway to replace Stapleton with a new airport. Stapleton was plagued with a number of problems, including:
- inadequate separation between runways, leading to extremely long waits in bad weather
- a lawsuit over noise, brought by residents of nearby Park Hill community
- legal threats by Adams County to block runway extension into Rocky Mountain Arsenal lands.
While there was ample evidence to support the argument that Stapleton was truly plagued by these problems, some people continue to maintain that the construction of Denver International Airport was nothing more than expensive politics.
The Colorado General Assembly brokered a deal in 1985 to annex a plot of land in Adams County into the city of Denver, and use that land to build a new airport. Adams County voters approved the plan in 1988, and Denver voters approved the plan in a referendum in 1989.
On February 27, 1995, the last commercial flight left Stapleton, which was replaced by the new Denver International Airport. Stapleton was closed later that evening, and a massive convoy of all airport vehicles (everything from baggage carts to rental cars) headed for DIA, which opened the following morning. White "X"es were placed across all Stapleton runways to keep aircraft from landing at the now-closed airport. DIA dropped DVX and KDVX as its temporary airport codes, adopting Stapleton's DEN and KDEN. Visitors to or from Denver at that time had the unusual experience of arriving at a different airport than they left the same city from.
All of Stapleton's airport infrastructure has been removed except for the control tower, which will remain standing as a reminder of the site's former days. The parking structure also remains standing.
Redevelopment
While Denver International was being constructed, planners began to decide how the Stapleton site would be redeveloped. A private group of Denver civic leaders, the Stapleton Development Foundation, convened in 1990 and produced a master plan for the site in 1995, emphasizing a pedestrian-oriented design rather than the automobile-oriented designs found in many other planned developments. Nearly a third of the airport site was slated for redevelopment as public park space.
The former airport site is now being redeveloped as the largest new urbanist project in the United States. Construction began in 2001, and as of 2004, over a thousand homes have been built on the Stapleton site. The new community is zoned for residential and commercial development, including office parks and "big box" shopping centers. Stapleton is by far the largest neighborhood in the city of Denver, and an eastern portion of the redevelopment site lies in the neighboring city of Aurora. Eventually, Stapleton will be home to at least 30,000 residents.