In the fall of 1917, the U.S. Army established a new airfield on the southeastern shore of Dallas' Bachman Lake, where hundreds of pilots would be trained before heading overseas to fight in World War I.

One hundred years later, thousands of passengers milled about the terminal at the same airfield Thursday morning, preparing for flights to one of more than 50 destinations it now serves.

During the century in between, Love Field has boomed and nearly busted, as it went from military base to home of the state’s earliest commercial air service; from a bustling hub in the dawn of the Jet Age to a nearly abandoned airport in the 1970s that was so empty, its terminal lobby was for a time converted to an ice skating rink.

Love Field helped give birth to the country’s largest domestic carrier, Southwest Airlines, and later operated under restrictions unlike any found at other U.S. airports.

Through it all, the airport has been an economic engine for the region and a gateway for residents to faraway places.

“Dallas would not be the city it is without Love Field,” said Bruce Bleakley, the recently retired museum director at Frontiers of Flight and co-author of a forthcoming book on the airport’s history. “There’s a phenomenal speech one of the chamber of commerce guys gave in 1931, ‘We’re an inland city, so let the air be our ocean.’”

On Thursday, one hundred years to the day after Love Field was officially opened, local, state and federal officials gathered with airport employees to celebrate the centennial. It’s one of several events the airport has hosted over the last year tied to the anniversary, including 5K races, a plane pull, a softball tournament and a Christmas charity gathering.

“We have shown the world that Dallas is a leading, vibrant city,” U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson said. “Love Field will never, ever be forgotten for the part that it played and is playing.”

Military upbringing

Following military tradition, Love Field was named for fallen aviator Lt. Moss Love, who was killed during training in 1913.

A total of 449 pilots were trained at the base, Bleakley said, with 12 killed during the war, a remarkably low number for the time.

1 / 2Dallas Love Field in 1918, when it was an Army Air Corps base for bi-planes. (The Associated Press) 2 / 2A photograph of Dallas Field Aviation Camp, taken May 30, 1918, was on display during Love Field's 100th anniversary celebration on Thursday, October 19, 2017.(David Woo / Staff Photographer)

With the end of World War I, Love Field’s future was uncertain as activity dwindled before it was eventually acquired by the city of Dallas.

The first commercial service was launched in 1926 with the beginning of airmail service, followed by passenger service operated by National Air Transport in 1927. At the time, a one-way flight from Dallas to Chicago, with six stops in between, cost about $1,500 in today’s dollars.

World War II saw the airport return to its military roots, serving as a large transport command base for moving goods and aircraft around the country and overseas.

Military investments lengthened the runway, added more taxiways and otherwise improved the infrastructure, Bleakley said, setting Love Field up to be a major airport as commercial aviation grew in the post-war years, with American, Braniff and Delta airlines serving as the major carriers.

1 / 3Timothy Smith of Dallas' aviation department takes a photograph of a time capsule on display during the 100th year anniversary celebration of Dallas Love Field on Oct. 19, 2017. (David Woo / Staff Photographer) 2 / 3A time capsule from Sept. 14, 1973, and a photograph of Dallas Field Aviation Camp taken May 30, 1918, were on display during the 100th anniversary on Thursday.(David Woo / Staff Photographer) 3 / 3One of many exhibits on display at Dallas Love Field for its 100th anniversary on Oct. 19, 2017. In 1917, it was a military base.(David Woo / Staff Photographer)

By 1973, Love Field was the eighth-busiest airport in the country with 70 gates and more than 6.6 million passengers that year. But with DFW International Airport opening in 1974, Love Field was set to be shut down as all of its air carriers shifted operations to the new facility.

All, that is, except Southwest Airlines, which took the fight to keep the airport open to court and won the right to keep operating its intra-Texas service.

Southwest effect

“At that time everybody left and the city really wasn’t investing in Love Field much. We had a temporary ticket counter, a real small area that was very spartan,” said Bob Montgomery, vice president of airport affairs at Southwest. “Of course, we just had a few flights in" each day.

The history of Southwest Airlines and Love Field over the last 40 years is nearly inseparable, as the upstart carrier founded on short-haul flights between Dallas, Houston and San Antonio grew and began spreading its wings outside Texas.

That growth was constrained with the 1979 passage of the Wright amendment, which limited nonstop flights on large jets out of Love Field to destinations in just Texas and four neighboring states.

Despite the limitations, Southwest’s presence at Love Field continued to expand, reaching some 120 daily flights as the carrier began taking its low-cost model around the country.

“It’s hard to even conceive of a Southwest Airlines without Love Field. It was an incubator that allowed us to create low-fare, high-frequency service and high customer service,” Montgomery said. “Just the name has helped to create a culture where love is acceptable. ... That culture has sustained and supported everything else that we do.”

A lovely future

One hundred years in, Love Field is arguably stronger and more vibrant than ever. At the very least, it’s nowhere close to showing its age.

With the lifting of Wright amendment restrictions in 2014, airlines were free to fly anywhere in the country and today operate nearly 200 daily flights to more than 50 destinations. The entire airport has been renovated and a new 20-gate concourse built as part of a more than $500 million modernization program, while passenger traffic has nearly doubled over the past three years.

1 / 2Passengers wait in line at a security checkpoint at Dallas Love Field on Oct. 19, 2017. (David Woo / Staff Photographer) 2 / 2As many as 30,000 passengers pass through Love Field each day.(David Woo / Staff Photographer)

Post-Wright amendment restrictions will prevent the airport from adding more gates, meaning the only growth in air service will come from carriers using larger planes. International flights are also off the table, another condition of the 2006 deal to repeal Wright.

But there’s still plenty of room for Love Field to grow its impact on the city.

Southwest, which has more than 5,000 employees headquartered adjacent to the airfield, is spending hundreds of millions of dollars expanding its campus. New developments continue to sprout up along Mockingbird Lane and Lemmon Avenue near the airport, and there are discussions about adding a north entrance to improve traffic flow.

“We want to be the right-size airport. ... The idea is can we maximize our 20 gates and our 1,300 acres. We don’t have the benefit of size, but we certainly have the benefit of location,” said Mark Duebner, Love Field’s director of aviation. “I think our role within the city is to generate additional economic vibrancy.”