| Additional Information: | Alexander Field – South Wood County Airport was opened in 1928 by owners of the Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Company (Nepco) after they purchased a corporate airplane. Originally called Tri-City Airport, it only served the company exclusively for a short time. Flight operations largely ceased at the onset of the Great Depression. The plane was purchased by the company’s pilot, who then leased its use to Nepco on an as-needed basis.
Between 1939 and 1945, the U.S. Army, National Guard, and Air Force used the Airport for training purposes. From May to December of 1945 the property served as a prisoner of war camp called Camp Wisconsin Rapids. A few hundred captives, most of which were German, were housed in this c.1930 hangar and in temporary barracks erected by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Many of the POWs were contracted to work at nearby cranberry marshes by the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association, while others were employed by local businesses, such as Nepco, Sampson Canning Company, Pittsville Canning Company, and Griffith State Nursery.
Improvements were made to the Airport in 1959, including renaming it Alexander Field in honor of John Alexander, president of Nepco, which owned the property (d/b/a Tri-City Airways, Inc.). In addition, two new runways were constructed and the landing field and hangar were donated by Tri-City Airways, Inc., to the City of Wisconsin Rapids, City of Nekoosa, Village of Port Edwards, Village of Biron, and Town of Grand Rapids for use as a public, municipally-owned airport. Numerous additional buildings have been added to the property since the early 1970s, including a terminal completed in 1973 and over 20 hangars, most of which appear to be less than 30 years of age.
The one building of historic age, the c.1930 hangar, has a rectangular footprint, rock-faced concrete block walls, and broad gambrel roof with exposed rafter tails. A lean-to extends across the entire length of the west (side) elevation. The main hangar door is a corrugated metal bi-fold door. Fenestration also includes 20- and 25-light steel windows, some of which have a central pivoting sash. According to a historic photograph, the hangar is largely intact from its period of construction. |
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| Bibliographic References: | “Vintage Venues: A Look at South Wood County’s Aiport,” Wisconsin Rapids Tribune, February 4, 2015.
Betty Cowley, Stalag Wisconsin: Inside WW II Prisoner of War Camps (Oregon, Wis.: Badger Books, Inc., 2002).
“Tri-City Port Gets New Name,” Milwaukee Sentinel, August 19, 1959. |
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