Starting in 1916 the Imperial German Navy built north of the village a military compound with an airship yard called Luftschiffhafen Wainoden with two large airship hangars which were later transferred and used as pavilions of the Riga Central Market. The base was used after World War I by the Latvian Army, then later in World War II again by the Germans. Afterwards, during the Soviet occupation of Latvia, it was a Soviet Army compound and an important military airport in the Baltic region including ballistic missiles with a nuclear warheads.
