NSA Mid-South was originally established as Park Field in 1917 and began as a training school for the Army Signal Corps. A great many pilots trained here for World War I. After the Armistice was signed, however, pilot training was no longer needed and the field became one of the Southern states' earliest airmail routes.

During the Great Depression, Park Field served as housing facility for unemployed workers. By 1937, the Resettlement Administration took over the field and turned it into a demonstration area to show off model farms.

Though the field had its years of non-military use, WWII made it an aviation facility once again; the Naval Reserve Aviation Base came to the field in September 1942 and became the first naval aviation site in the Memphis area. Soon after, in January 1943, the base was redesignated NAS Memphis.

The air station served for several years before its mission and functions changed drastically in 1949 - a "new" Naval Air Station took over logistical control for the next several decades. With the Base Realignment and Closure Commission of 1993 came the end to the air station's long reign of management. The base became NSA Mid-South in 1998. Today, Mid-South remains one of Tennessee's largest employer with over 6,000 full-time personnel.