SALINA, Kan. (AP) — It was 50 years ago today that Schilling Air Force Base officially closed.

By that time, it had been almost two years since the thousands of airmen who had been stationed at the Salina base and their families left and the Salina Airport Authority was created to implement the community's plan to create jobs and replace the lost government payroll.

The Schilling Institute, which ultimately became Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus, and a vocational-technical school, now known as Salina Area Technical College, had also already been launched, and the first flights had t...