Loomis Observatory | |
Location | Aurora St and College St, Hudson, Ohio |
---|---|
Coordinates | 41°14′38″N81°26′14″W / 41.24382°N 81.43710°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1838 |
Architect | Simeon Porter |
NRHP reference No. | 75001539 [1] |
Added to NRHP | June 30, 1975 |
Loomis Observatory (also known as the Elias Loomis Observatory) is the second oldest observatory in the United States, located in Hudson, Ohio. Construction was completed in 1838. It is on the campus of Western Reserve Academy, a college preparatory school. When the observatory was constructed the school was Western Reserve College, which later repaired to Cleveland and is now known as Case Western Reserve University.
The Loomis Observatory is the oldest observatory in the United States still sitting in its original location. The oldest American observatory, the Hopkins Observatory at Williams College, also completed in 1838, has been relocated twice in its history.
Under the influence and design of Professor Elias Loomis, who purchased the necessary instruments in England after studying in Europe, the observatory was built by architect Simeon Porter. [2] The original Troughton & Simms equatorial telescope and Robert Molyneux-built astronomical clock remain in the observatory dating to 1837. [3]
An inscription on the historic marker reads: "Elias Loomis and Charles Augustus Young worked in this Observatory, built in 1838, the third to be erected in the United States, the second oldest standing (1926). [4] "
James Ellsworth restored the observatory in 1908, and it was again restored in 1963.
The National Road was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the 620-mile (1,000 km) road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main transport path to the West for thousands of settlers. When improved in the 1830s, it became the second U.S. road surfaced with the macadam process pioneered by Scotsman John Loudon McAdam.
Clay County is a county located in the far western part of U.S. state North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 11,089. The county seat is Hayesville.
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Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established after Western Reserve University—which was founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reserve—and Case Institute of Technology—which was founded in 1880 through the endowment of Leonard Case Jr.—formally federated in 1967.
Western Reserve Academy (WRA), or simply Reserve, is a private, midsized, coeducational boarding and day college preparatory school located in Hudson, Ohio, United States. A boarding school, Western Reserve Academy is largely a residential campus, with 280 of 390 students living on campus and the remainder attending as day students. Students from over 20 states and 15 countries attend.
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Elias Loomis was an American mathematician. He served as a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Western Reserve College, the University of the City of New York and Yale University. During his tenure at Western Reserve College in 1838, he established the Loomis Observatory, currently the second oldest observatory in the United States.
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