- Also known as:
- Chicago O’Hare, ORD
O’Hare International Airport
What is O’Hare International Airport?
Who was O’Hare International Airport named after?
What are the origins of O’Hare International Airport?
News •
O’Hare International Airport, one of the busiest and most connected airports in the world and the busiest in the Chicago area. Located 17 miles (27 km) northwest of downtown Chicago, O’Hare is a gateway for both domestic and international travel. Serving more than 260 destinations on more than 40 airlines, O’Hare handled 80 million passengers in 2025 and ranked as the world’s busiest airfield that year.
Origins and name
Initially known as Douglas Airport, the site was developed during World War II as a base for manufacturing Douglas C-54 Skymaster aircraft. It was built on farmland known locally as Orchard Place. The airport was later renamed Orchard Field Airport, giving rise to its modern three-letter code, ORD.
The airport received its current name in 1949 in honor of Lieut. Comdr. Edward Henry (“Butch”) O’Hare, a U.S. Navy flying ace and World War II hero. He received the Medal of Honor for single-handedly defending the USS Lexington against nine attacking bombers, an action described at the time as “one of the most daring, if not the most daring, single action in the history of combat aviation.”
" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">
Chicago’s Midway Airport had been in operation since 1926, but city officials recognized that its residential location could not support significant expansion. Wartime priorities delayed development until 1945, when the city of Chicago selected the Orchard site—then still controlled by the military—for a new municipal airfield. O’Hare became one of the first major purpose-built airports in the country, with concourses, terminals, jet bridges, underground fuel storage, and dedicated highway access.
Rise to prominence
O’Hare lies several miles northwest of Chicago’s urban core, a location that could have created complications for municipal control, as Illinois law does not favor exclaves (areas geographically detached from the rest of a municipality). To address this, Mayor Richard J. Daley orchestrated the annexation of the Higgins corridor in 1956, a narrow strip of land—under 33 feet (10 meters) wide in some places—that connected the airport to the city’s northwest border. The annexation, despite resistance from neighboring suburbs, helped Chicago maintain jurisdiction over O’Hare. After the Illinois Supreme Court questioned the legality of such a narrow annexation in 1959, Daley negotiated a swap with the village of Rosemont, replacing the Higgins corridor with a much wider strip—roughly 185 feet (56 meters)—connecting O’Hare to Chicago and resolving the legal issue on firmer ground.
Commercial airline service began on October 29, 1955, with a Trans World Airlines flight to Paris. The airport also opened the country’s first corporate aviation terminal that year. For the first several years, however, most commercial air traffic remained at Midway. As large-jet traffic became standard, O’Hare’s importance increased because Midway’s shorter runways limited its ability to accommodate bigger planes.
In 1958 O’Hare opened its first international terminal, and by 1959 the airport had expanded to more than 7,000 acres (about 2,800 hectares). The completion of the eight-lane Northwest Expressway (now Kennedy Expressway) in 1960 improved access to the airport and strengthened its physical and economic connections to Chicago. By 1961 O’Hare ranked as the second busiest airport in the country, serving 9.62 million passengers. Passenger traffic doubled by 1965 and increased to more than 70 million passengers by 1997.
Expansion and modernization
United Airlines and American Airlines were among the original carriers offering service from O’Hare in 1955, and both established hubs there in the 1980s. The military relinquished its remaining ownership stake in the 1990s.
The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.
SUBSCRIBE
In 2001 the city announced the O’Hare Modernization Program, a multibillion-dollar effort to reconfigure intersecting runways into a more efficient parallel layout and increase airfield capacity. Much of the work was completed during the 2000s and 2010s. The final phase was completed in 2021.
The O’Hare21 Terminal Area Plan followed, with work on the first of two new satellite concourses beginning in 2023. The project is ongoing and is expected to continue well into the next decade, increasing gate capacity by 25 percent to accommodate future growth and improve passenger facilities.
O’Hare International Airport now has four terminals and a record eight runways, facilitating one of the highest rates of parallel landings in the world and allowing a plane to take off, on average, every 30 seconds.