When Wilbur and Orville Wright took to the skies in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903, they made history. But it would be another six years before powered flight would come to Texas. In 1909, while on a tour of the country to promote aviation, the Wright brothers stopped in Dallas. They had been invited to the city by a local businessman and enthusiastic aviator named Albert Benjamin Cockrell. Cockrell had arranged for the Wrights to give a series of flying demonstrations at a field just outside of Dallas. And on October 10, 1909, Wilbur Wright made the first powered airplane flight in the state of Texas. It was also the first airplane flight ever made in the city of Dallas. The Wrights only stayed in Dallas for a few days, but their visit had a lasting impact on the city. In 1911, Cockrell helped to organize the first Dallas Aviation Club. And two years later, the club built a small airstrip on the same field where the Wrights had flown. That airstrip would later become Dallas Love Field. Today, Dallas Love Field is a busy airport, serving over two million passengers a year. But it is also a reminder of the city’s aviation history. And it all started with a short flight by the Wright brothers almost 110 years ago.