Winsted Municipal Airport
Winsted Airport became McLeod County’s first municipal airport in 1962.
It began as a privately rented runway in 1956, with a north/south runway, which established air transportation useful to the area businesses that had reached a national level.
Once the airport proved its value, it did not take the Winsted City Council long to agree that an improved airport would be a definite advantage to the economic development of the town.
The council appointed the first airport commission Jan. 2, 1962. The commission was made up of City Attorney Dick Genty, and Winsted business owners, Leander Sterner and Dave Laurence.
The Commission was to take immediate steps to locate possible Winsted airport sites, consult with the state aeronautics commissioner and determine the amount of funds available.
The original airport site was agreed upon. It already had four hangars at the location, southwest of town, and it was close to the city.
However, in order to get the state and federal assistance needed, the north-south runway had to be changed to an east-west runway.
Although the paperwork began in 1962, it took the entire year to work out a deal with the state and federal government. They agreed to pay for the construction and layout, if the land was purchased by the city.
The land was purchased from two separate owners. Eighty acres were purchased from a single man under guardianship, which required permission from the probate court to permit the guardian to sell the land to the City of Winsted. The other 400-foot strip was purchased off of the southern portion of land owned by Louie Quast.
A total of $20,000 was spent with some exchange of property taking place between Quast and the city.
The runway, running east and west is 3,200 feet long, with additional footage at each end, called the clear zone. The runway is 400 feet wide, which includes the clear zone.
Construction took most of 1963. It included the airport office, apron and connecting taxi-way, the purchase of a huge gasoline tank, gas pump, electricity, low intensity lighting, lighted wind cone, beacon, grass, and markers.
The records show a total initial expense of $46,600 (the land included), none of which was paid for with taxpayers’ money. The Winsted Municipal Airport was completed in the spring of 1964.
The Winsted Airport today
Today, the Winsted Municipal Airport has been in operation for 44 years.
There is now a total of 45 hangars. The biggest future airport project being considered by the City of Winsted is paving the runway.
In a survey given to all of the hangar owners in November, the vote was overwhelmingly in favor of having the runway paved. With only 31 responses, 24 owners voted to pave the runway and 7 voted against it.
One hangar owner’s reason for keeping the runway as it is said, “Winsted is unique because of its grass runway suitable for antique aircraft. There are paved runways everywhere.”
A response in favor of the paved runway had another hangar owner respond, “Most people interested in hangars would prefer paved runway. The paved runway would allow more business traffic to the city. Bigger planes could land in town – not Glencoe or Hutch.”
And finally the hangar owner who wants both said, “There’s room for a small grass strip parallel to a paved one. You have over 250 feet in width.”
One of the previous discussions regarding the paved runway goes back to the 2001, when the airport layout plan was updated. The plan presented at the time was to expand the clear zone, move existing power lines, and provide a cross-wind runway. The plan was voted down because it was way more than the city wanted to spend, and it was decided to stay with a turf runway.
However, since that time, the city has found the project feasible by allowing the runway to remain where it is.
For the year 2008, the city has submitted an airport capital improvement plan to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Minnesota Department of Transportation Office of Aeronautics.
Until the city is awarded the funding to cover 95 percent of the paved runway, the project will remain on hold. If the funding comes through, the city will have to look at its budget and decide if it will be able to come up with the addtional 5 percent needed to support the paved runway.
Ordinance establishes 2008 Airport Commission
During the first city council meeting of the year, the council established a new airport commision. The previous 10 member airport commission, made up of mostly airport hangar owners, was reduced to five members.
The volunteer commission is appointed by the mayor and subject to the approval of the council. The members serve a two-year and four-year staggered term of office.
Its job is to serve as an advisory commission to the city council on all matters pertaining to the Winsted Municipal Airport.
The new 2008 members of the Winsted Airport Commission are Russ Paschke, Kevin Kubasch, Dave Millerbernd, Gerald Boldt, and Sarah Bisping.
In addition, there are two ex-officio members, City Clerk/Treasurer Deb Boelter, and Council Member Dave Mochinski.
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