"Fred Machesney: Rockford Aviation Legend" Summer Lecture

Name: "Fred Machesney: Rockford Aviation Legend" Summer Lecture
Start: 2024-06-02T14:00:00-05:00
End: 2024-06-02T16:00:00-05:00
Location: Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum and Gardens

Schedule

Sun Jun 02 2024 at 02:00 pm to 04:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum and Gardens | Rockford, IL

Join us as we welcome back local historian and published author, Mike Frederiksen, on Sunday, June 2nd!
The name Machesney is very familiar to those who live in the Northern Illinois region due to the Village of Machesney Park and the Machesney Park Mall. However, before there was a village and a mall, the name Machesney was synonymous with aviation. Fred Machesney founded the first official Airport in Rockford and operated it for 47 years. Machesney was an innovator, a businessman, and a catalyst for the aviation industry our region is now known for. Join us as we explore Machesney’s life from barnstormer in Kewanee to the closure and conversion of his airport into a mall. We will also talk about early Rockford aviation themes and the formation of the Chicago Rockford International Airport.
Tickets are $5/members, $10/non-members.