Airport History

The first airfield in Dalton was a grass strip built in 1930 near the corner of what is now Cleveland Highway and the Dalton Bypass.  Other airfields were opened over the years with grass landing strips, including a grass airfield that opened in 1944 at the current location of the Dalton Municipal Airport and also the "Mountain VIew" strip that opened in 1948 near what is now the Ford dealership on Shugart Road near I-75. In those days, Floyd Price ran a small aviation service out of both airfields, alternating between the two locations.

In 1963, Rollins Jolly, then chairman of the Dalton Chamber of Commerce, and founder of Jolly textiles, which later became J&J industries, spearheaded a move to grow the airport at it’s current location. A 3,000 foot single runway was paved and a permanent fixed-base operation (FBO) was established at what is now officially known as Jolly Field in honor of Rollins Jolly’s efforts.

In 1972, taxiway turnaround loops were added to the ends of the runway and in 1985, a parallel taxiway was added, running the full length of the runway. The 1980’s saw a boom in private aviation which brought new hangars and rapid expansion. By 1993, the runway had been extended to 5,000 feet and the main terminal building and hangar were moved from their original location further out from the runway. In 2002, the runway was extended another 500 feet to bring it to its present length at over a mile long.

As the airport grew, FAA regulations mandated the hangars and buildings be moved further from the runway. In 2007, 20 new T-hangars were built and the old T-hangars were torn down. In 2018, the ramp area where the old T-hangars stood was repaved, erasing traces of the original configuration