I love this old historical stuff and it would be cool to see if
there's a great story behind that beacon.

Ii agree. Good luck. Our airport, Lansing Municipal, Lansing, IL. used to be
Ford airport. Henry Ford built it and did work on the Tri-motors there. The
main hangar (original) sports an "airways" beacon. It is a white only, rotating
beacon that used to light the way for airmail pilots.
It was the only beacon we had up until a few years ago when they got a green /
white on a tower.
Tom