St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL) traces its origins to June 18, 1920, when Major Albert Bond Lambert and the Missouri Aeronautical Society leased 170 acres of farmland in St. Louis County to establish an airfield, at Lambert's own expense and offered free of charge to any aviator who wished to use it. The city of St. Louis purchased the property in 1928, making it one of the first municipally owned airports in the United States. That same year, the airport became home to airframe manufacturing operations that would eventually bear the names Curtiss-Wright, McDonnell-Douglas, and Boeing.

The airport's architectural centerpiece arrived in 1956, when architect Minoru Yamasaki's Terminal 1, a dramatic concrete-shell structure topped with domed vaults, opened and set a new standard for airport design. Its influence extended to terminals at John F. Kennedy International Airport and Dulles International Airport. STL also carries a deep connection to Charles Lindbergh: Lambert was a key financial backer of Lindbergh's 1927 transatlantic flight, and the Spirit of St. Louis stopped at Lambert Field en route from California to New York before that historic departure. Trans World Airlines built one of its most significant hubs here, and American Airlines and TWA both trace roots to the airport's earliest commercial operations.

Located approximately 14 miles northwest of downtown St. Louis and accessed directly from Interstate 70, the airport today serves more than 15 million passengers annually across 2 terminals, 3 concourses, and 4 runways. Southwest Airlines is the dominant carrier, accounting for roughly 60% of passenger traffic. MetroLink light rail connects the airport directly to downtown St. Louis, giving STL a transit link that many Midwestern airports lack. Its combination of deep history, midcentury architectural significance, and Midwestern connectivity makes it genuinely unlike any other airport in America.