When a committee searching for land for a second Chicago airport decided on 1,080 acres on the city's far Northwest side in 1945, skeptics bemoaned the site was just too far from downtown.

Little did they know the property - originally home to an orchard and, later, a military aircraft assembly plant - would become a downtown of its own.

Spanning more than 21 square miles, 2 square miles larger than the village of Schaumburg, O'Hare International Airport grew into an economic engine for the city, surrounding suburbs and beyond. From Bensenville to the Boone County line, hundreds of thousands of people earn their livings on or around the airport, which generates about $34 billion for the region.

Purchased by the city in 1946 and named after World War II hero Lt. Cmdr. Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare in 1949, the airport served as a factory for California-based Douglas Aviation and a military air base before it opened to commercial traffic in 1955. Until its renaming, O'Hare was known as Chicago Orchard Airfield - a name kept alive by the "ORD" code that continues to appear on baggage tags.

Within three years of airlines operating flights in and out of O'Hare, construction began on the Kennedy Expressway and what are now the Northwest and Tri-State tollways. The highways, all of which opened by 1960, cut the drive time from the Loop to the airport from one hour to 25 minutes, according to Joseph P. Howard's book "Chicago O'Hare International Airport: World's Busiest, World's Best." They also turned farmland around O'Hare into prime sites for housing, industrial and office space.

One of the first developers to capitalize on O'Hare's potential was Centex Corp., an aptly named central Texas builder. The company partnered with the Pritzker family to buy land and form what is now Elk Grove Village, which includes North America's largest contiguous industrial park.

"Elk Grove was their first out-of-state venture," said 39-year-old Elk Grove Village President Craig B. Johnson, who has lived in the community all his life. "They put it there because of the airport and future tollways.ÊÊ...ÊIt was laid out so people could live on the north and east and not be impacted by the business district."

As development of Elk Grove took off in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Chicago began construction of longer runways at O'Hare to handle the first jetliners rolling off assembly lines at companies including Boeing and McDonnell Douglas.

"A massive construction boom continued from 1959 to 1963," Howard writes. "The work included additional terminal buildings hangars, a parking lot for 5,000 cars, flight kitchens, a fuel tank farm, an airmail post office, cargo buildings and rental-car stations."

The airport, funded by airline-terminal rents and landing fees, seized the title "world's busiest" in 1962, when it served 13.5 million passengers. By 1968, it was serving more than 30 million people a year.

Companies, led by United Airlines, established their headquarters in suburbs around the airport, making it easy for them to move cargo and employees around the world.

United's move to Elk Grove Township in 1962 would be followed by a retail-office building boom in the Schaumburg area, led by the openings of Motorola and Woodfield Shopping Center in 1967 and 1971, respectively.

"I venture to say Woodfield wouldn't be what it is if it wasn't for O'Hare acting as the genesis," said Laurie Stone, president of the Greater O'Hare Association of Industry and Commerce. "The roads led to Schaumburg, and Schaumburg grew up around Woodfield."

Rosemont's growth came next, with its hotels, offices, a sports stadium and convention center a direct outgrowth of O'Hare's prominence. In the coming years, Sears and Ameritech would establish their headquarters along the I-90 corridor, as well.

Today, O'Hare is responsible for 455,000 jobs in the Chicago area, according to a 1998 study commissioned by the Midwest Aviation Coalition. More than 100,000 of those jobs are in the 5.5-square-mile Elk Grove Business Park west of O'Hare, while another 50,000 are on airport grounds or airline-related.

Arlington Heights Village President Arlene Mulder has witnessed the airport's growth first-hand. She and her husband moved to the community in 1970 because he frequently used the airport for business trips. More than 800 Arlington Heights residents, according to a village survey taken in the mid-1990s, work for United or American airlines.

While Mulder appreciates the economic development and jobs the airport brings, she and other suburban residents could do without the thundering noise of jet engines.

"It's created sort of a love-hate relationship," Mulder said. "You love the convenience of having O'Hare nearby, but you really hate the noise."

As chairwoman of the Chicago-funded O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission, Mulder is working with Chicago and other suburban leaders to implement a program in which jets fly over non-residential areas at night and quieter engines are used at all hours. The Chicago Aviation Department established the commission in 1995.

Meanwhile, another group, the Suburban O'Hare Commission, has formed to combat runway expansion - something the city says isn't on its radar screen.

Elk Grove Village's Johnson has been a prominent member of SOC, but even he admits O'Hare is a much-needed part of the suburban economy.

But, unlike those in the airline industry, Johnson thinks a third regional airport in the South suburbs would not hurt the Northwest and West suburban economy.

"The airport is a great neighbor if it stays the way it is," Johnson said. "O'Hare makes an impact as far out as the Rockford area, the Wisconsin border and Kankakee."

A South suburban airport, Johnson added, would have a similar "ripple effect."

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