I just got word that Washburn Observatory, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will soon reopen after 2 years of renovations. Finally!
Not that 2 years is a long time, but it is the entirety of my time in Madison. Now that my alma mater has reopened the observatory, originally opened in 1881, it’ll be available to the general public twice a month once again, so I finally get to check it out. That openness has been a tradition since the observatory’s completion, when the public would just knock on the door, curious about the unusual-looking building; the only time the open-nights ever stopped were during this renovation.
Done mostly to make the building more accessible to people with disabilities, the renovation also created office and classroom space for an honors program. Most important, however, was preserving the original look and materials of the observatory, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Not only is the telescope the very same 15.6-inch refractor used for more than a hundred years, but many of the original cabinets and light fixtures remain as well.
Apparently, the reason it’s a 15.6-inch telescope a requirement from the main benefactor to the original observatory, Wisconsin Governor C. C. Washburn. The one requirement he had before donating more than $65,000 was that it be bigger than Harvard University’s 15-inch telescope. Even though Washburn’s is no longer the third-biggest telescope in the country, or the sky isn’t as dark or pollution-free as it was 128 years ago, Washburn Observatory remains a striking building and a great place for folks to see get their first glimpses of the sky up close.
I can’t wait to go sometime, even if I can’t make the open house from 2-4 p.m. this Friday. But you could go! Let me know what it was like if you do, or tell me about any other Washburn-related stories you might have.