158 FACTS RELATING TO GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS. 



Ascension made from North Common, Lowell ; left at 4 : 53, 

 P. M. ; passed directly over North Chelmsford, 5 : 06 ; Groton, 5:32; 

 West Groton, 6 : 02, — and 17 miles from Lowell. Then over Shir- 

 ley, Lunenburg, and plumb over Fitchburg at 6 : 45, landing near 

 Gardner depot at 7 : 20, P. M. 



A balloon ascension was made from Fitchburg on the after- 

 noon of July 4, 1888, by Malvern Hill Allen, of Providence, 

 who is a son of James Allen, the veteran aeronaut, mentioned 

 in the preceding paragraph. The ascent was made from the 

 Fair grounds at half-past four o'clock, when'_the_balloon took 

 an easterly direction and sailed away toward Groton. It 

 passed over the Nashua River at a point near Fitch's Bridge, 

 crossed the Great Road a httle north of the village of Groton, 

 and then continued in its easterly flight. With numerous 

 other persons I watched it from James Lawrence's house on 

 Farmers' Row for twenty-five minutes, while it remained in 

 view ; and it was a beautiful sight. I took the bearings of the 

 course, and, after consulting a Map of Middlesex County, ven- 

 tured the guess that the balloon would come down in Dracut; 

 but the descent was made in the adjoining town of Pelham, 

 New Hampshire, after an aerial trip of 50 minutes. 



At this time the young aeronaut was only nineteen years 

 old, and the ascension from Fitchburg was the third one ever 

 undertaken by him alone and on his own account. His first 

 ascent was made from Ridgway, Elk County, Pennsylvania, on 

 July 3, 1886, and his second from Carlisle in the same State, 

 on October i, 1887. Mr. Allen, the father, has three sons 

 now engaged in the art of ballooning, his eldest son James 

 K. Allen being in partnership with him; and he himself has 

 been interested in the science of aeronautics for a period of 

 thirty-five years. 



TWO BALLOON DESCENTS IN GROTON. 



It is said that lightning never strikes twice in the same 

 place ; but from the following it seems that balloons some- 

 times come down in the same neighborhood. 



On July 4, i860, as a part of the usual city celebration on 



