The Houston Municipal Airport Terminal achieved National Register of Historic Property status in June of this year, 2019. A lot of people have worked extremely hard to make this museum a reality.
Guided tours are available or you can just wander the different exhibit rooms. Depending on your level of interest this could take a few hours to completely tour the building. There are many display cases with a multitude of items to discover.
I was most impressed to find the restroom did not have a pay-toilet, I guess that came later in airport history.
Parked in the front of the building is a 1969 Hawker Jet (model DH.125-400A, and features Rolls-Royce Viper MK522 engines), which has been painted by local Houston artist "Gonzo247".
From the museums website: (link below)
A virtual tour can be seen at: (
visit link)
Plan your visit to the 1940 Air Terminal Museum
The 1940 Air Terminal Museum is comprised of several galleries with cases containing aviation memorabilia, such as silver service items, models, documents, and photographs. The museum's terminal building is air-conditioned, but the bay of the 1928 Carter Airmail Hangar is not. Any visitor may go through the museum's terminal building ground floor at their own pace, however visitors may not access the upper floors or balconies of the terminal building at this time. Visitors may sit outside the terminal building and watch the planes or take advantage of the films in our theater.
Food and drink are allowed in the theater and outside of the terminal only. No food and drink are permitted on the ramp area, inside the atrium or terminal galleries, or inside the 1928 Carter Airmail Hangar.
Field Trips and docent guided tours are available weekdays during operating hours only. Please contact the administrator for times, dates and, if applicable, special rates. Children's and school groups must have one chaperone for every five children.
Visitors may tour the 1928 Carter Airmail Hangar by escort only on weekdays and every third Saturday. The hangar is not normally open during weekends.
Planespotting at the Museum
Planespotters and aviation enthusiasts in general are welcome at the museum. Our parking lot offers a great venue for watching the activity of Hobby airport, in the shadow of the original terminal that started it all. If you do plan on spending time outside our building, we would ask that you stop in and let us know you'll be out, and for approximately how long.
To learn more about planespotting around Hobby and the other airports in the Houston area, visit HoustonSpotters.net. HoustonSpotters offers information about plane spotting in and around Houston, all of the resources you will need, news and discussions about upcoming and past events, as well as a photo database of pictures taken around Houston airports.
Operating Hours & Admission
The 1940 Air Terminal Museum is open to the public between the hours of:
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday
1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday
The Museum is closed on Mondays.
Admission is $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for children