QUEENSBURY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – The town of Queensbury’s local airport is used for commercial flights, hobbyists, and events like the area balloon festival that will hit its 50th anniversary this year. Now, it has a special spot to commemorate the history that’s gotten it there.

Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport has opened a history exhibit, showing airport history dating back to its founding in the 1940s. Photos and memorabilia trace the airport’s history through to the 1980s, during which period it served as a base for four commercial airlines. Items and advertisements from the same airlines that once came regularly to the area can be seen onsite.

“This new exhibit is great,” said Warren County Airport Manager Robin Mapp. “It breathes some new life into the terminal to see the pictures that detail the history of our airport.”

A great deal of what’s on display at the airport has been donated by Jim Barrett of Leaf Air LLC. Barrett has family ties to the staffing of Colonial Airline, one of the lines that used to traffic the airport regularly.

The construction of the Adirondack Northway is credited as the killer of commercial air flights to Queensbury, as its creation made transportation by automobile significantly easier into and throughout the Adirondack Park. Today, the airport is still used by a corridor of nearby businesses and serves as the home of the Adirondack Balloon Festival.