LC_History

On June 19, 1951, the 4th DC-3 arrived and was placed in service. In 1952, Paul and John Weesner placed themselves in a position that made it prudent to dispose of the stock. They contracted to sell the airline to North Central Airlines. Because such a sale was in the interest of the public, permission of the Civil Aeronautics Board was required. The Weesner's stock was put in a trust until all doubts of ownership could be determined.

In early 1953, one of the greatest route expansions to date had been approved by the CAB. By the end of 45 days after CAB approval, new flight crews, station personnel and office employees had been hired. Three additional DC-3's were purchased and Lake Central started service to Dayton, Columbus, Mansfield, Marion, Zanesville, Dover/New Philadelphia, Youngstown and Cleveland in Ohio as well as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Gary, Indiana. The airline now had 21 cities on their route map.

By mid 1954, North Central had not taken action on the 1952 offer. The Weesners decided to give a group of Officers and Employees of Lake Central an option to purchase, subject to North Centrals first right of refusal. 1954 saw new service to Lima, Ohio, Terre Haute, Indiana and Danville, Illinois, then on June 1, 1955 the eighth DC-3 was added to help serve all the new routes.

The employee offer was taken up in January, 1955. 97 1/2% of Lake Central's outstanding stock was purchased by a group of 162 officers and employees. 1955 was an important year financially for the Company because the employee ownership was put in place and permanent operating authority was approved by the CAB. The airline experienced it's first profit in any six month period so far.

It was September of 1956 when Marion, Indiana was added and the Youngstown flights were extended to Erie, Pennsylvania. By February of 1957, Buffalo, New York was added to the route map and service to Toledo and Detroit was begun on April 1, 1957. By summer of 1957, two more DC-3's were leased from the Navy and added to the fleet. Portsmouth, Ohio joined the system on July 1, 1957.

Meanwhile, the stock stayed in the trust pending the CAB decision on the case. The CAB finally rendered a decision on July 9, 1957 against the merger with North Central citing that it was not in the public interest. North Central petitioned the CAB for a rehearing later in the year which was unanimously denied.

Muncie, Indiana was added September 1, 1958. Each time there was a route expansion, employee base also expanded. The number of personnel had grown from 25 in 1949 to over 450 ten years later. Service to Gary, Indiana was suspended on January 25, 1958 after being authorized by the CAB. A net profit of $127,958.00 was realized in 1958 making it the

North Central continued to appeal until June 1959 when a United States Supreme Court decision put final ownership of Lake Central in the hands of the employee group. Lake Central added more scheduled flights on its now 2175 mile route system through the Summer of 1959.

In a September 1959 stockholder meeting, the voting trust was ended by unanimous vote. With CAB approval, the stock was to have been placed in the hands of the stockholders early in 1960. Two more DC-3's were added in February, 1960 making a total of 12.

The tenth anniversary of the airline had been a turning point in the history of Lake Central.

Link to Perry Sloan's Lake Central Timetable Images