The Baltimore Gun Club is a fictional organization within Space Mountain and Discoveryland.
History
The Baltimore Gun Club is a Firearm Club founded out of Baltimore, Maryland some time during the American Civil War. Later, in the 19th centry, the club's president Colonel Impey Barbicane announced and oversaw the construction of The Columbiad Cannon, a cannon intended to achieve space travel by shooting experimental steampunk rockets into orbit.
Space Mountain
The Columbiad
The cannon was built in Discoveryland, a land composed of other revolutionary inventions of the era, and the Columbiad would be the most dangerous and powerful one of them all. Around the Cannon, the Club re-built their new headquarters and a gigantic steel "mountain" to cover up all the machinery that controlled the Columbiad. The "mountain" built was named "Space Mountain", and it allowed anyone to blast off on daily Lunar Excursions via the Columbiad.
Appearances
The Baltimore Gun Club's first and only appearance was in Space Mountain - De la Terre a la Lune in Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris where they held the aforementioned Lunar Excursions. The Club would also obtain two notable devices which assisted in their space operations. First was the Electro-de-Velocitor which allowed for the bullet-like rockets of Space Mountain to return to Earth safely using electro-magnetic force, and the Bluemoon Mining Machine which was used by Barbicane for extracting valuable minerals from asteroids.
Connections
Discoveryland has a strong connection to the Club since they house the Columbiad as well as Space Mountain and all their devices. Barbicane also had a huge passion for other great visionaries, especialy Leonardo da Vinci, and the astethic style of his Orbitron was made into a lamp in the lounge of the Club, as a tribute for his efforts in astronomy.
Jules Verne was the lead astronomer and writer in Discoveryland at the time, and it made sense for the Club to send him into space to observe the stars and galaxies for a secret project Barbicane was working on. So, they equipped him with a 19th-century space-suit and passage to space via the Columbiad Cannon of Space Mountain. In space, Verne worked to study the many wonders of the cosmos, and he was awarded his space wings after his return to Earth.
Trivia
- The club's slogan, "Ad Luna in Flamma Gloria" is roughly Latin for, "To the Moon in a blaze of glory".
References
- https://www.designingdisney.com/parks/disneyland-paris/disneyland-park/discoveryland/remembering-space-mountain-earth-moon/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YaEJ6jR6O0&t=140s