The Union Army Balloon Corps was a branch of the Federal Army during the American Civil War, established by Thaddeus S. C. Lowe (1831-1913), appointed Chief Aeronaut by President Lincoln. It was a civilian operation. There were seven specially built, gas-filled aerostats for the purposes of performing aerial reconnaissance of the Confederate States Army.
In 1887 Lowe moved to Los Angeles, California, (Pasadena). He opened several ice making plants and founded Citizen’s Bank of Los Angeles. In 1891 Lowe and civil engineer David J. Macpherson incorporated the Pasadena & Mount Wilson Railroad Co. and began the construction in the hills above Altadena of what would become the Mount Lowe Railway, the third in a series of scenic mountain railroads in America created as a tourist attraction. It was the only scenic mountain, electric traction (overhead electric trolley) railroad ever built in the United States.
Abandoned in 1938, the Mount Lowe Railway was listed in 1993 on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Forestry Service dedicated a block of land for the monument that would encompass all the artifacts from the railroad.
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