Merrill Church Meigs was the executive of the Chicago Herald and Examiner

Chicago's American

Chicago American, an afternoon newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, was the last flowering of the aggressive journalistic tradition depicted in the play and movie The Front Page....

in the 1920s. Inspired to become a pilot by Charles Lindbergh

Charles Lindbergh

Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...

's solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

, he became a booster of Chicago as a world center of aviation.
He gave flying lessons to President Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

.

Meigs (pronunciation: "Megz" - rhymes with "eggs") was the son of Church Paddleford Meigs and Julianna S. (Burrell) Meigs. He grew up on a farm near Malcom, Iowa

Malcom, Iowa

Malcom is a city in Poweshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 352 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Malcom is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....

, where he was more interested in the mechanical devices used to raise crops than actually farming. In 1901, he took a job as a salesman for the J.I. Case Threshing Machine Company

Case Corporation

Case Corporation was a manufacturer of construction and agricultural equipment. In 1999 it merged with New Holland to form CNH Global, a Fiat Group division...

 in Racine

Racine, Wisconsin

Racine is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city had a population of 82,196...

, Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

. Within a year, he was in charge of the company's sales for South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. Despite not having graduated from high school, Meigs was allowed to enroll at the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

, where he played football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 under Amos Alonzo Stagg

Amos Alonzo Stagg

Amos Alonzo Stagg was an American athlete and pioneering college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football...

 and also played baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 and water polo

Water polo

Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...

. While at the college, he would also be the campus correspondent for the Chicago Herald and Examiner, of which he would become the executive later in his life.

As head of the Chicago Aero Commission, Meigs insisted that in addition to Midway Airport (then called Municipal Airport) and O'Hare Field

O'Hare International Airport

Chicago O'Hare International Airport , also known as O'Hare Airport, O'Hare Field, Chicago Airport, Chicago International Airport, or simply O'Hare, is a major airport located in the northwestern-most corner of Chicago, Illinois, United States, northwest of the Chicago Loop...

 (then called Orchard-Douglas), the city needed an airfield within ten minutes of the Loop

Chicago Loop

The Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown Chicago...

. It opened in December 1948 and was renamed Meigs Field

Meigs Field

Merrill C. Meigs Field Airport , was a single strip airport that operated from December 1948 until March 2003. It was built on Northerly Island, the man-made peninsula that was also the site of the 1933–1934 Century of Progress in Chicago....

in his honor the following year.

Meigs retired in 1962 and became a consultant to the newspaper industry.
He died at age 84.