Birthplace of an Airline
It was here in Clintonville that Wisconsin Central Airlines, now known as North Central Airlines, was founded in 1944. Fostered and promoted by the Four Wheel Drive Auto Company, the airline was an outgrowth of the company’s need for air transportation. Four Wheel Drive had been operating a non-scheduled airline service to Chicago for months before making application for scheduled airline service to the Civil Aeronautics Board in June, 1944. Since beginning service on February 1, 1948, with a fleet of three nine-passenger twin-engine aircraft, North Central has become one of the largest of the local service air carriers in the country. Its routes provide the basis of Wisconsin’s airline system serving all of the state’s air carrier airports.
Marker can be reached from 7th Street 1.5 miles east of Main Street (Wisconsin Highway 22), on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
