IN THE BEGINNING

            By the end of World War I it became apparent that air transport of people and goods was going to become a major industry. While the telegraph and radio permitted the rapid dissemination of news, etc. the movement of the printed word was something else. Even with the limited 100-mph aircraft of the time, by 1920 mail was being hauled between New York and California in just over a day and a half.

            Misled by reports of large crowds and media hoopla, we believed that “Pop” Dickinson’s 1926 launch of contracted airmail service between Minneapolis and Chicago was the initial service on the route. Not true. In 1919 the Post Office established airmail service between Washington, D.C. and New York as well as transcontinental from New York to Sacramento, CA. The following year (1920) service was expanded from Sacramento to San Francisco and also on routes Chicago to St. Louis and Chicago to Minneapolis. All routes were flown by U.S. Army pilots in old military DH 4 aircraft. After less than three months, following a series of crashes, in which eight pilots and a mechanic died, all service except NYC/SFO was cancelled.

            In the mid 1920s the US Government authorized the Post Office to issue contracts to private organizations for the cartage of mail. One contract was awarded to “Pop” Dickinson for the Minneapolis/St. Paul/Chicago segment. He flew the route for about three and a half months however, being seriously under funded; he was unable to withstand the loss on an airplane on the first day of operation and the desertion of employees who couldn’t afford to work without pay.

            A group of St. Paul businessmen, headed by Col. Lewis H. Brittin, recognized the potential and incorporated a new company, Northwest Airways, Inc. Over the years this has led to the mistaken thought that Northwest was a Minnesota company, primarily a St. Paul company, but it wasn’t that way in the beginning. The $300,000 it took to fund the airline came mostly from Detroit along with a few St. Paul, and other, contributors. Northwest Airways, Inc. was incorporated as a Michigan entity.

            Initial company officers were: Harold H. Emmons, president; Frank W. Blair, vice-president; William B. Stout, secretary; Eugene W. Lewis, treasurer; and Col. Lewis H. Brittin as vice-president and general manager. All but Brittin were Wolverines. Stout was originally from St. Paul but had moved away.

            Sitting on the first Board of Directors were –

Detroiters:        Emmons, of the law firm of Emmons, Oren and Sleeper
                        Blair, president of the Union Trust Company
                        Stout, president of Stout Air Services
                        Lewis, president of the Industrial Morris Plan Bank
                        Edward Evans, president of Evans Auto Loading Company
                        William F. Mayo, chief engineer, Ford Motor Company
Chicago            Earl Reynolds, president of Peoples Trust & Savings Bank