Thomas Scott Baldwin 1858-1923
CITY:
Quincy
COUNTY:
Adams
DEDICATED BY:
Quincy Service League and The Illinois State Historical Society
DEDICATION DATE:
January 1, 1976 at 6:00:00 AM
The marker is located in Quincy on the southeast corner of 30th & Maine Streets, at Baldwin Elementary School.
The home of Major Thomas Scott Baldwin, aviation pioneer, once stood at this location. Baldwin invented the first folding parachute here in 1887, and by the 1890’s had become one of the highest paid parachute exhibitionists in the nation. He built the first successful airship for the Army Aviation Signal Corps in 1908. In 1915 he built the famous D-1 dirigible for the Navy and two years later became the chief of the newly formed Army Aviation Signal Corps. In 1964 he was named posthumously to the Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.