New Terminal Opens at Robert Mueller Municipal Airport (1961)

Duration: 23:30

Year Published: 1961

Format: 16mm

Sound: sound

Description: In this 1961 television report for Austin’s KTBC, broadcaster and humorist Cactus Pryor joins Colonel Vance Murphy, Austin’s director of Aviation, for a tour of a newly opened terminal building at the now-closed Robert Mueller Municipal Airport. Pryor explores Austin’s new gateway from entrance to exit, examining the terminal’s ticket counters, lobby, gates, dining area, and baggage concourse. Named after a former city commissioner, Mueller was Austin’s first civilian airport, operating from 1930 to 1999. The expansion seen in this footage was the airport’s first, adding a new passenger terminal and control tower. Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson and Austin Mayor Lester Palmer attended the building’s dedication ceremony. After closing the airport in 1999, the Mueller area now hosts several local film organizations and production companies, including the Austin Film Society, Troublemaker Studios, and Detour Filmproduction.