February 2026.
Tucked away on the southeast corner of the Columbus Airport, along 5th Avenue right before it hooks north, is an unassuming little structure that might not even earn a second glance from the cars speeding by. This building is actually the original terminal of what was then known as Port Columbus Airport, much different from the sprawling complexes we know of today. It sits vacant but has a bright future ahead. With Ohio’s prominent role in aviation history, it’s fitting that one of the earliest existing airport terminals is located there.
The Old Port Columbus Terminal is located at 4920 East 5th Avenue on the far east side of Columbus, Ohio. On the very southeast corner of the airport, it is bordered by the airport’s fence to the north, 5th Avenue to the south and east, and small hangars to the west.
History
A photo of the terminal while it was still in use. (Vintage Aviation News)
What is now known as the John Glenn Columbus International Airport opened on July 8, 1929 as the Columbus Municipal Hangar (where the “CMH” code comes from). Its site was chosen by Charles Lindbergh, and it was part of a coast-to-coast route established by Transcontinental Air Transport (later TWA, which no longer exists). In order to travel from New York to Los Angeles via this route, travelers would take a train to Columbus, fly to Oklahoma, take another train to New Mexico, and fly once more to Los Angeles. In its first year, the airport hosted 11,000 travelers.
The airport building was designed by the Allied Architects Association, a consortium established by Frank Packard to design Columbus’s new civic center. It is in the Art Moderne style, based on its rectilinear appearance, spare ornamentation, and large windows. A beacon once sat atop the control tower and flashed “PC” for Port Columbus in Morse code. It is unknown if the AAA designed the nearby hangars, which is unlikely given their bare and vernacular appearance. Additions were made to the control tower and terminal before 1958, which mostly obscured it from 5th Avenue.
Port Columbus was taken over by the Navy in 1942, which established the Naval Air Station Columbus. They also opened a factory known as Air Force Factory 85 in a former Curtiss-Wright plant, which would later be briefly used by the Lustron Corporation to manufacture prefabricated houses. The factory would be used by North American Aviation afterwards. The airport was returned to the city of Columbus in 1946. In 1952, the east-west runway was expanded, which allowed large aircraft to land for the first time.
Historic photo of the newly completed 1958 terminal. (John Glenn International Airport)
In 1953, it was decided that the airport would be expanded with a newer, larger terminal. This Modern design opened on September 21, 1958, and the old terminal was converted to office space and operations for smaller planes. The airport would be modified further in the future, which I won’t go into.
View of the old terminal from 5th Avenue with its alterations. (NRHP listing)
In 1979, the terminal was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its write-up is unusually short and lacks important information, such as dates of the additions or history after the 1958 terminal was constructed. Restorations in the 1980s resumed office use, but the building was abandoned once again a decade later.
In 2007, the first year it appeared on Google Maps, the additions had been demolished. By 2015, the terminal was placed on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties, though Columbus Landmarks had also named it one of the year’s Most Endangered Sites. They noted that its survival was incredibly rare, as other buildings of its age were frequently demolished during expansion efforts, and it could survive with renovation work such as a new roof and mold removal. This work was completed in 2016, and in 2020 it was acquired by the Ohio Air & Space Hall of Fame, a non-profit. They are supposedly working on restoring the building, but it has been six years with any noticeable progress besides banners on the exterior.
Photos
The terminal is located in a very odd section of the airport. It’s not enclosed within the fence and people on Google say it’s a good place to watch planes take off and land, but I’ve never once seen anyone parked there. I left my car in the asphalt section to the west and hoped for the best.
The terminal has a simple, regular Art Moderne design. It is largely a brick rectangle with repetitive windows, though the tower and brickwork patterns spice up the exterior a bit.
The octagonal tower, with a large glass top floor:
The top has some subtle geometric cresting:
The north facade:
Aside from the tower, this area is very utilitarian, indicative of Depression-era construction. The larger windows on the first floor are boarded up.
Detail of a second-floor window and the brickwork:
These seem to be the original windows. Most of the exterior uses a buff glazed brick, while the accents are in a darker brown shade. They emphasize the horizontal nature of this section of the facade.
East facade, which is very similar to the north except smaller:
Ohio Historical Marker outside:
Other side:
The south facade has smaller window openings and some projections from the flat wall plane, which are probably the stairs or something similar:
This entrance has a subtle stone border, and it has a banner proclaiming that the building will eventually reopen:
This area, uniquely, has some vertical emphasis with its stepped parapet and brick accents:
West facade:
Another look at the tower from this angle:
A better look at the top part, spotlight, and ornamentation:
Hopefully, the museum organization is able to get its act together and have this building reopened. It would be a shame to have such an important historic building go to waste.
Sources:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/79001839.pdf
https://columbuslandmarks.org/port-columbus-terminal/
https://flycolumbus.com/business/history/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Port_Columbus_Terminal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glenn_Columbus_International_Airport
https://columbusunderground.com/plan-to-restore-historic-terminal-moving-forward-bw1/
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