Robert Mueller Municipal Airport

Austin voters passed a bond issue to fund a municipal airport in May 1928.{{harvnb|Ragsdale|2004|pp=63–64}}: "To fund this [...], the city commissioners submitted a $4.2 million bond issue to the voters that included $75,000 to purchase land for an airport. [...] the big winner was the municipal airport with 4,501 votes for and 2,032 against." The airport was constructed four miles northeast of downtown on what was then the edge of the city.{{cite web | url=http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/austinairport/aviat.htm | title=History of Aviation in Austin | work=Austin-Bergstrom International Airport | accessdate=April 4, 2025 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070827201733/http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/austinairport/aviat.htm | archivedate=August 27, 2007}}{{harvnb|Ragsdale|2004|p=66}} A 1,000-foot runway and small terminal were built on a 175-acre site.{{harvnb|Ragsdale|2004|pp=65–67}} The airport began operations on October 14, 1930. It was named after Robert Mueller, a city commissioner who had died in office in January 1927.{{harvnb|Slate|2012|p=21}}{{cite web|title=Why was Austin's first municipal airport named Mueller Airport?|work=Austin Public Library|accessdate=February 3, 2015|url=http://www.austinlibrary.com/ahc/faq12.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203165630/http://www.austinlibrary.com/ahc/faq12.htm|archivedate=February 3, 2015}} Passenger flights were available from the beginning; Texas Air Transport had begun service to Austin in 1929, initially flying into a privately owned airfield.{{harvnb|Ragsdale|2004|pp=61, 70}}: At the time, Mueller was the only municipal airport in Austin, as the other airfields in town were not owned or operated by the city. The seat of the state government and home of the University of Texas at Austin, the city soon attracted more flights. By 1931, Mueller Airport was served by three airlines.{{harvnb|Ragsdale|2004|pp=70–71}} A second runway was added in 1937.{{harvnb|Ragsdale|2004|p=84}}

During World War II, the airport was busy. Due to congestion at Del Valle Army Air Base, which had opened southeast of downtown Austin in 1942, some trainees practiced landing Douglas C-47s at Mueller. Air traffic also included commercial flights, private pilots, and students in the Civilian Pilot Training Program at the University of Texas.{{harvnb|Ragsdale|2004|pp=110–113}} In 1942, a building that was originally intended for a flying school was repurposed as the new passenger terminal,{{harvnb|Ragsdale|2004|pp=106–107}} and the airport's first air traffic control tower was built atop it.

In the 1950s, airport traffic increased as the city grew and more people traveled by air, putting a strain on the terminal. In addition, Mueller needed longer runways to handle heavier and faster aircraft like the Douglas DC-4. Therefore, officials initiated an expansion project.{{harvnb|Ragsdale|2004|pp=135–139}}{{cite news | title=A splendid history, a last goodbye | work=Austin American-Statesman | date=May 22, 1999 | author=Kelley, Mike | pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/article/austin-american-statesman/127205552/ A1], [https://www.newspapers.com/article/austin-american-statesman/127205159/ A10]}} The main runway was lengthened and equipped with new lighting, and a new passenger terminal and control tower were built. The tower was known for its alternating light-blue and dark-blue porcelain panels. The terminal opened in April 1961. The following month, the two structures were dedicated in a ceremony attended by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and Austin mayor Lester Palmer.

The April 1957, OAG lists 33 weekday departures on three airlines: fifteen on Braniff International Airways, ten on Trans-Texas Airways (TTa) and eight on Continental Airlines. Nonstop flights did not reach beyond San Antonio, San Angelo, Dallas Love Field or Houston Hobby Airport. The first scheduled nonstop beyond Texas was a Braniff Boeing 727 to Washington Dulles Airport in 1968; that flight lasted until 1980. It was the only nonstop out of the state until Braniff tried a Chicago O'Hare Airport nonstop in 1978.

The jet age arrived in Austin in April 1965 when Braniff International introduced BAC One-Elevens on its flight to Amarillo via Dallas and Lubbock.{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/austin-american-statesman/170160697/ | title=First jet flight due for Austin | work=Austin American-Statesman | date=April 24, 1965 | accessdate=May 2, 2025 | p=23}} Two years later, Browning Aerial Service, a fixed-base operator at Mueller, started a charter flight to Marfa as a faster way for employees of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Texas to reach the McDonald Observatory.{{harvnb|Ragsdale|2004|p=153}} Three aviation units of the Texas National Guard shifted to Mueller from Camp Mabry in 1970.{{harvnb|Ragsdale|2004|p=150}}

In the 1970s, problems with Mueller led the city to contemplate building a new airport. Mueller was surrounded by housing and businesses, and plane crashes had occurred in the vicinity.{{Cite web |title=Manor Airport |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/features/2003-07-04/166647/ |access-date=November 12, 2020 |website=The Austin Chronicle |date=July 4, 2003}}{{harvnb|Ragsdale|2004|pp=156–160}} The facility was also becoming congested, and its airspace overlapped with that of the air base, now known as Bergstrom Air Force Base. Where to relocate the aging Mueller would become a perennial issue in Austin politics.{{Cite news |last=Eskenazi |first=Stuart |title=Voters say Bergstrom is the only way to fly |page=A1 |work=Austin American-Statesman |location=Austin, TX |date=May 2, 1993}}

A series of expansions took place. A project completed in 1976 included jetways, a larger baggage claim, and a second instrument landing system.{{harvnb|Ragsdale|2004|pp=169–170}} Five gates were added in 1983.{{cite news | title=Airport under pressure | work=Austin American-Statesman | date=July 10, 1983 | author=Ladendorf, Kirk | pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/article/austin-american-statesman/171794723/ A1], [https://www.newspapers.com/article/austin-american-statesman/171794635/ A16]}} In 1990, officials unveiled a new section of the terminal that provided four more gates and extra ticket counters. A new air-cargo facility was erected as well.{{harvnb|Ragsdale|2004|pp=190, 193–194}}

Passenger counts rose as a result of airline deregulation and the growth of Austin's high-tech economy.{{harvnb|Ragsdale|2004|pp=194–195}} As of 1979, the airport was served by nine carriers that flew to eleven cities, including two outside Texas (Atlanta and Washington, D.C.).http://www.departedflights.com, Nov. 15, 1979 Official Airline Guide A commuter carrier named Conquest Airlines moved its headquarters from Beaumont to Austin in 1989. The airline linked its hub at Mueller to five destinations in Texas as of 1993.{{cite news | title=Taking wing | work=Austin American-Statesman | date=October 3, 1993 | author=Breyer, R. Michelle | pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/article/austin-american-statesman/172334919/ G1], [https://www.newspapers.com/article/austin-american-statesman/172334881/ G6]}}

In August 1980, Hurricane Allen gave rise to a tornado that struck Mueller, destroying hangars and aircraft of the fixed-based operator Ragsdale Aviation. The passenger terminal was unaffected, and no one was killed.{{cite news|title=Remembering the 1980 tornado|url=http://www.kvue.com/news/Remembering-the-1980-tornado-121788579.html|access-date=July 6, 2012|date=May 13, 2011|author=Albert Ramon|publisher=KVUE Television, Inc.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830134619/http://www.kvue.com/news/Remembering-the-1980-tornado-121788579.html|archive-date=August 30, 2011}}{{harvnb|Ragsdale|2004|p=180}}

File:Robert Mueller Municipal Airport Tower November 2016.pngMueller's longest runway was {{convert|7269|ft|m}} long, and by the late 1990s the passenger terminal was at full capacity with 16 gates.

For a number of years, the Texas Army National Guard had facilities at the airport.

Officials were planning to relocate the airport to Manor when the closure of Bergstrom Air Force Base opened another possibility.{{cite news|title=Airport site stirs controversy|work=The Daily Texan|date=January 15, 1985}}

Bergstrom closed as an active military base in 1993. It was decommissioned as a reserve base in 1996.{{cite news|title=For Austin, Texas, Old Air Force Base Becomes City Airport|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=May 24, 1999|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/398646785/|url-access=subscription }} The primary runway, designed for military cargo and high-performance jets, was left intact and required little work to return to serviceable condition. Smaller military-era buildings at the site were demolished, and a new terminal building and traffic/parking infrastructure was built in their place, creating an international-capable civilian airport to replace Mueller Airport.

Robert Mueller Municipal Airport's commercial service ended on 21 May 1999, replaced by the new Austin-Bergstrom International Airport; while general aviation activities at Mueller continued through 22 June 1999.{{cite news|title=Austin aviation gets new home at converted air base|publisher=Lubbock Avalanche-Journal|date=May 24, 1999|agency=Associated Press|url=http://lubbockonline.com/stories/052499/sta_052499029.shtml}}

The {{convert|711|acres|sqkm|sigfig=1}}{{cite news|title=Austin, in the Big Time, Gets an Airport to Match|last=Lyman|first=Rick|work=The New York Times|date=April 11, 1999|page=3|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/431171395/ }} of land that once housed the airport sat vacant and unused for more than half a decade until the city approved a development plan. The new community of Mueller broke ground in 2007 and was expected to take at least ten years to be fully developed.

The airport's control tower has been preserved and restored in response to the local community's desire to keep the iconic 1961 structure.{{cite news |last=Harrell |first=Barry |date=September 1, 2012 |title=Austin's 1960s Mueller airport control tower getting retro restoration |url=https://www.statesman.com/story/business/2012/09/01/austins-1960s-mueller-airport-control-tower-getting-retro-restoration/9945211007/ |accessdate=March 26, 2025 |work=The Austin American-Statesman |department=Business}} The view of the Texas State Capitol from the base of the tower became one of the Capitol View Corridors protected under state and local law from obstruction by tall buildings in 1983, though redevelopment of the Mueller subdivision is exempt from the regulation.{{Cite web|title=Downtown Development and Capitol View Corridors|publisher=Downtown Austin Commission|date=June 27, 2007|url=https://icma.org/sites/default/files/301744_Downtown%20Development%20Comission%20Report.pdf|accessdate=November 10, 2017}}

Robert Mueller Municipal Airport also left behind about 20 acres and 10,000 square feet of hangar buildings that have been converted into sound stages and renamed Austin Studios. It is the home to several Austin-based film and production companies such as Austin Film Society, Rooster Teeth, and Robert Rodriguez's production company, Troublemaker Studios.

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• {{cite book |title=Austin, Cleared for Takeoff: Aviators, Businessmen, and the Growth of an American City |first=Kenneth Baxter |last=Ragsdale |date= |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-292-77435-3 |location=Austin |language=en-US |doi=10.7560/701670 |jstor=10.7560/701670 |oclc=53253762}}
• {{cite book|title=Lost Austin|first=John H.|last=Slate|isbn=978-0-7385-9613-6|year=2012|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dqsISgbIjVUC}}

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{{Portal|Aviation}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Robert Mueller Municipal Airport}}
• [http://muelleraustin.com/ Mueller Master Developer Site]
• [https://www.flickr.com/photos/12530375@N08/6168380357/sizes/h Airport diagram for April 1986]

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Category:Defunct airports in Texas

Category:Transportation in Austin, Texas

Category:1999 disestablishments in Texas

Category:1930 establishments in Texas

Category:Airports established in 1930

Category:Airports disestablished in 1999

Category:Airports in Greater Austin