By 1938, Miamians and cities on both of Florida’s east and west coasts could take regularly scheduled Air Mail and passenger airline service for granted, as could Orlando and Lakeland. Two main domestic carriers — Eastern and National — provided commercial airline service from Miami to other cities in Florida and the United States, while Pan American Airways provided regularly scheduled service from Miami to international destinations. It wasn’t until October 1938, however, that Tallahassee, the State capital, was able to enjoy regularly scheduled airline service. Tallahassee had built a municipal airport in 1929, Dale Mabry Field, of which it was mightily proud. But the corresponding development of aviation related services had not automatically followed and by the mid-1930s the field had become somewhat abandoned and neglected. In order for Eastern and National to be able to add Tallahassee to their routes, Dale Mabry Field had to be dredged, drained and rehabilitated. This was accomplished through a Roosevelt era WPA funded project. Finally, in October 1938, the airfield was deemed safe and equipped enough for both Eastern and National to add Tallahassee to their Florida routes. The city was elated to be able to finally enjoy the connectivity brought by airline travel. Eastern inaugurated north-south service from Tallahassee to Tampa and Atlanta on October 10, 1938 followed shortly thereafter by National, which began east-west service from Tallahassee to Jacksonville and New Orleans on November 1, 1938.