The area that now houses MacDill Air Force Base was once known as Catfish Point. It was a staging area during the Spanish-American War but the 5700-acre property did not become a military installation until the late 1930s. Tampa was selected to receive funding from the War Department for the new airfield. It appropriated $1,064,255.00 from Works Projects Administration (WPA) funds. The facility was originally established in 1939 as the Southeast Air Base, Tampa, and later named for Col. Leslie MacDill, who along with Pvt. Joseph G. Gloxner was killed in a plane crash in Washington D.C. in 1938. Eyewitnesses believe something went wrong with the motor soon after takeoff from Boling Field in his BC-1 Aircraft. The plane clipped off tree limbs and plunged to the ground in a residential neighborhood. It burst into flames upon impact. MacDill and Gloxner were killed instantly.

As the base was being cleared, the WPA also began extending Lisbon Ave, now MacDill Ave., to the base. It was the first permanent road constructed for the facility and allowed for the transportation of construction and other services.

© Chip Weiner. oldtampaphotos.com