In 1925, McCluer Flying Field (now Downtown Airport) was opened as a private airport on East Division Street. It was purchased by the city in 1928 and renamed to Springfield Park and Airport. The following year, commercial air service from American Airlines, Transcontinental and Western, and other carriers began to be offered at the airport. Over the next two decades, as planes continued to increase in size, the short and unpaved runways of the Springfield Airport made it difficult for commercial air service to expand. Furthermore, the Great Depression left little funding for improvement, and commercial air service eventually disappeared. During World War II, wounded returning soldiers were being flown in large numbers to Springfield on their way to the O'Reilly General Hospital, and it became evident that the airport was ill-equipped for air traffic and was in dire need of an upgrade. On September 1, 1942, Lester E. Cox addressed city council with a proposal for a $350,000 bond issue to build a new airport. The following month, municipal voters approved the bond issue, for which work began in 1944. Springfield had purchased 840 acres northwest of the city for $125,000. Further bonds in the amount of $150,000 to complete the project were approved in 1945, and on July 2 of that year the new Airport opened for business. While originally known as the Springfield-Greene County Airport, disagreements between the city and county governments about finances caused the City of Springfield to assume full control, renaming it the Springfield Municipal Airport. Soon after, in early 1946, American Airlines again began commercial service to SGF. In 1960, Springfield voters approved a $600,000 bond issue to build a new terminal, which opened in October 1964. This terminal was expanded multiple times in the following decades as passenger numbers grew at an accelerating rate. The airport was eventually renamed the Springfield-Branson National Airport. It is likely that this was in order to capitalise on the tourist industry of the nearby city of Branson, Missouri. Despite this, the city of Branson is not involved in any way with the operation or funding of the airport. In 2005, the airport saw a year-over-year passenger increase of 23 percent, its largest in history. Due to this, ground was broken for yet another new terminal in May 2006. The new Midfield Terminal was opened in May 2009. In the same month, the airport celebrated its first scheduled service to the west coast, an Allegiant Air service to Los Angeles. The new terminal was eventually renamed the Roy Blunt Terminal in honor of Missouri Senator Roy Blunt. The airport served 1 million passengers for the first time in 2018.