Allegheny College, Newton Memorial Observatory, North Main Street, South of Ruter Hall, Meadville, Crawford County, PA

2013 Leicester B. Holland Prize, Entry
Significance: At the dedication of the Newton Memorial Observatory on June 19, 1901, Dr. FM Bristol, a medical practitioner and pastor of the Metropolitan Church of Washington, DC, spoke on the relationship of science to the humanities and religion, a connection which is highlighted in the physical structure of the building and also the workings of the instrumentation held within. The building follows a cruciform design laid out on the cardinal directions, a style typical of a church, and the building's rough-hewn Cleveland sandstone presents a façade reminiscent of a mausoleum. The building was in fact built as a memorial, but it also was designed to house advanced astrophysical instrumentation. It was designed to house both a finely crafted transit telescope and a refractory telescope, each made by expert optical craftsmen and the refractory telescope was fitted with lenses made by internationally renowned craftsmen. While the study of the heavens inspired reflection on the human condition and the position of the world within the universe amongst the general citizenry, the observatory itself was at the forefront of astronomical research. The paired transit and refractory telescopes and other technical equipment installed in the building, including a sidereal clock, chronometer, and sextant, permitted scientists to conduct pioneering research using binary star systems to determine the distance, spectra, and especially the mass of distant stars, previously impossible to calculate.

Newton Observatory was designed by the architect MH Church of Chicago. Church was a nationally known architect with interest in a wide variety of building types. He was most well known for the design of Chicago's Garfield Boulevard Elevated "L" Station and Overpass in 1892 to provide public access to the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 commemorating 400 years since Columbus arrived in the New World. Locally, Church also designed Allegheny College's Montgomery Gymnasium on the eastern side of North Main Street using similar material resources.

The Observatory wall composition is brick with plaster interior and a 6" Cleveland Sandstone exterior. The dome of the observatory is fitted with a copper roof, and three of the rooms were finished with maple wood floors.

Mrs. Mary M. Prindle Newton donated the observatory and an endowed professorship in astronomy in memory of her late husband, Captain Don Carlos Newton, who was a student at Allegheny College from 1848-49. Captain Newton left to assist in a family wagon-making business in upstate New York (located first in Attica and later in Batavia). He served in the Union Army during the Civil War, then returned to the increasingly successful family business which he took over in 1879 until his death in 1893. While Captain Newton left Allegheny College after only one year, Mrs. Newton had additional family connections to the College that led to this most generous gift. The Newtons had a nephew, James Prindle, who graduated from the college in 1898, and a favored niece from Chicago, Jennie Foote, who married the Rev. Mr. William Henry Crawford, who became Allegheny College's 10th president, serving from 1893-1920. The observatory was built during a period of significant growth in the physical buildings on campus, highlighted by a focus on research and scientific structures. In addition to the observatory, the Crawford presidency added Reis library, Alden Hall, Cochran Hall, Carnegie Hall, Ford Chapel, and Montgomery Gymnasium. The undergraduate enrollment quadrupled during this time. A research telescope and observatory of this caliber at a small rural school places this in an unusual category, bringing it to national recognition with astrophysics research facilities much larger and more well-endowed than Allegheny College.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1979
Survey number: HABS PA-6785
Building/structure dates: 1899-1901 Initial Construction