America’s first balloon ride happened right here in Philly, the birthplace of American aeronautics
With Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Adams, and George Washington in the audience, an American first took place where the Athenæum now stands.
It was a cold January morning in colonial Philadelphia. The year was 1793 and Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Adams, and George Washington were among dozens of spectators gathered in the Walnut Street Prison workyard. The Founding Fathers watched in awe as French aeronaut Jean-Pierre Blanchard prepared to take flight.
Blanchard’s hydrogen-powered balloon rose up into the sky. It was the first time someone had ever seen a balloon take off in America.
Two and a half hours later, Blanchard landed the blue and yellow striped silk balloon 15 miles north in a Deptford, NJ field that today is a Walmart Supercenter parking lot.
That historic moment — America’s first balloon ride — will be remembered on Saturday at the Athenæum, where the Walnut Street Prison workyard once stood.
The festivities will kick off the Philadelphia Historic District’s 52 Weeks of Firsts, a weekly day party marking events that happened in Philadelphia before anywhere else in America, and often the world. Each Saturday, the Historic District will partner with a local institution to host a free festival — or “Firstival.” This will be part of a yearlong celebration of America’s 250th birthday.
Each of those locations will feature a foam sculpture illustrated by a Mural Arts of Philadelphia artist commemorating the historic event.
Blanchard’s historic balloon ride proves even back then, Philadelphia resonated greatly with Parisian culture.
While in Paris negotiating an end to the Revolutionary War in 1783, America’s A-list forefathers, Ben Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay witnessed some of the world’s first balloon rides. Impressed, they came back to Philadelphia raving about the innovation.
Two years later, Blanchard, and co-aeronaut John Jefferies, became the first people to sail over the English Channel in a hydrogen balloon. (He chose hydrogen because hot air balloons were powered by fire and prone to explosion, thereby making any flight more than three miles risky.)
The English Channel trip made Blanchard a big deal in aeronautical circles and he started traveling around the world, flying balloons, and charging spectators, explained Beth Shalom Hessel, executive director of the Athenæum of Philadelphia
On Jan. 3, 1793, Blanchard made his landmark 45th flight in Philadelphia, turning the Walnut Street Prison workyard into the birthplace of aeronautics in America.
Onlookers paid $5 — more than $150 in today’s money — to witness Blanchard take off. He carried with him a dog and a letter from Washington. This letter, which demanded that Blanchard be offered safe passage where ever he landed, is considered by many to be the first ever American passport.
“As a way of making money and drumming up interest in his balloon, Blanchard intentionally chose Philadelphia for his first American flight,” Hessel said. “And that’s fascinating.”
This week’s Firstival is Saturday, Jan. 3, 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. at the Athenæum of Philadelphia, 219 S. 6th Street. The Inquirer will highlight a Philly “first” from the 52 Weeks of Firsts program every week.