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Submitted: 8/1/14 • Approved: 8/1/14 • Last Updated: 4/16/18 • R70501-G0-S3
Prof. Harry Darnell
Met his death July 26, 1911
making a balloon ascension
at Electric Park. Aged 38 yrs.
Erected by Campers & Citizens
of Plainfield, Ill.
Note: There is an image of an acrobat hanging from the bottom of a hot air balloon. "Professor" Harry Darnell was a popular attraction at Plainfield's Electric Park. Apparently he had performed his aerial trapeze act hundreds of times until the evening of July 26, 1911, when he fell about 700 feet to his death in the DuPage River. According to the Illinois Digital Archives website, because of the time it took for news of his death to reach his family, the campers at Electric Park buried Darnell in the Plainfield Township Cemetery and erected a memorial at his gravesite.
Section E
Contributed on 8/1/14 by pasteffen99
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Record #: 70501