Texas Hill Country News

San Antonio WWI Era Aircraft Hangar Gets Remodeled

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Tony Maples Photography

 

Hangar 9 at the Brooks City Base was built in WWI as a temporary aircraft maintenance structure. Though it was almost demolished in the 1960s, the fact that it’s the “oldest wooden aircraft hangar of its kind still standing in the original location,” according to the Brooks City Base website, saved it. Now, MySA.com writes that $2.8 million was put into the remodel of the white 8,700 square foot hangar with 30-foot tall ceilings, and it will now become a site for big events like weddings and quinceañeras.

The Brooks City Base website says that the grand re-opening celebration for the historic hangar took place on the evening of March 24th. The Brooks community is sure to embrace the new life given to the hangar in their transformed area of town. They explain that once the military stopped using the base in 2011, developers came in “to make Brooks an economic engine for the South Side.”

Now, 3,000 people work at the base and visit the restaurants and stores and can even live in new apartments located there, as well. The evolution of Hangar 9 matches the changes made to the rest of the community but manages to maintain a bit of important history that no one should forget.