Solomon D. Butcher photographed this balloon ascension at Broken Bow in 1903. The balloon is being inflated over a fire pit. NSHS RG2608-738
Cushman Park near Lincoln, Nebraska, was crowded on the afternoon of August 24, 1890. The attractions were a Professor Ten Broeck, described by the press as an “English aeronaut,” and his hot air balloon named City of London. The professor was scheduled to ascend heavenward in his balloon and then thrill the crowd by parachuting to earth. The Lincoln Daily Call on August 25 reported:
“At four Prof. Ten Broeck had all things in readiness for his ascension and shortly thereafter, amidst the cheers of the multitude, he went sailing skyward in his balloon, every moment becoming to the eyes of the spectators a mere speck. He reached an altitude of about 6,000 feet before he began his descent, . . . As he began to near the earth the crowd began to anticipate where he would strike the ground and ran in wild excitement to their fancied spot only to find that he was yet just a little ways farther on and away they would go again, over fences, gardens and some favorite flower bed of the suburban housewife, scaring chickens and cows, arousing dogs and not a few irate Germans whose patches of cabbage and potatoes had been ruthlessly trampled by the excited mob of followers.”
Professor Ten Broeck promised another ascension from Cushman Park the following Sunday, but it never took place. Find out why in the last paragraph of a Timeline column on the Nebraska State Historical Society website. Learn more about Nebraska’s early balloonists in the first chapter of Wings Over Nebraska: Historic Aviation Photographs, by Vince Goeres, with Kylie Kinley and introduction by Roger Welsch. The book, recently published by the NSHS, is available from the Society’s Landmark Stores. — Patricia C. Gaster, Assistant Editor for Research and Publications
