Dearborn Observatory
The Dearborn Observatory in 2007
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| Organization | Northwestern University | ||
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| Code | 756 | ||
| Location | Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A. | ||
| Coordinates | 42°03.4′N 87°40.5′W / 42.0567°N 87.6750°WCoordinates: 42°03.4′N 87°40.5′W / 42.0567°N 87.6750°W | ||
| Altitude | 195 meters (640 feet) | ||
| Established | 1889 | ||
| Website | [1] | ||
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| Dearborn Telescope | 469.9 millimetres (18.50 in) refractor |
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The Dearborn Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on the Evanston campus of Northwestern University. The observatory was originally constructed in 1888. In the summer of 1939, Dearborn Observatory had to be moved to make way for the construction of the Technological Institute.
The history of the Dearborn Observatory coincides with the founding of the Chicago Astronomical Society in 1862. The society heard of the 1861 construction of a 469.9 millimetres (18.50 in) lens for a telescope, which made it, at the time, the largest refracting telescope in the world. The lens had been commissioned by Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard, the chancellor of the University of Mississippi (later president of Columbia University), who hoped to found an observatory with the new lens. He commissioned the renowned firm of Alvan Clark & Sons of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to construct the lens. However, the American Civil War began before the lens could be delivered to Mississippi. The lens therefore remained in the Clark's shop in Cambridge, where it was eventually put up for sale.
The lens was initially intended for Harvard University, but was bought instead by Chicagoan Thomas Hoyne, a founding member of the Chicago Astronomical Society, for the sum of $11,187. The Chicago Astronomical Society intended the lens for the Old University of Chicago (a precursor to the current University of Chicago) and a tower was constructed on Cottage Grove Avenue around the lens. The structure was named the "Dearborn Observatory" in honor of Mary Ann Haven Dearborn, the deceased wife of J. Young Scammon, principal benefactor of the project. Construction of the observatory began in 1863, and the original Dearborn Observatory was completed two years later. The Observatory was managed by the Old University of Chicago for many years, however financial struggle caused it to declare bankruptcy in 1881, and the Chicago Astronomical Society had to do battle in the courts to successfully establish their title to the Dearborn instruments & library.
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