The Origins of the Detroit Observatory
President Henry Philip Tappan,
1860. From Tappan papers, Box 1.
Henry Philip Tappan became the first president of the University of Michigan in 1852. In December of that year, in the same month as his inauguration, he began raising funds for an astronomical observatory to be built on University grounds. Along with his friend and ally, railroad-man Henry Walker, he met with donors and organized fundraising meetings. The first of such meetings was held in the Michigan Exchange, a Detroit hotel, and attended by prominent Detroit citizens, such as businessmen, scientists, and wealthy acquaintances of Walker. This group of Detroiters quickly raised close to $10,000 dollars, and the Observatory was named after Detroit in honor of their generosity. Having successfully made a case for the building of this observatory, which would be the first in Michigan and the second in the Midwest, Tappan began touring notable observatories abroad and selecting staff and instruments in 1853.
Detroit Observatory, 1870. From University of
Michigan vertical file (call number: UBimus D13).
Clearly, the building of an observatory was a project that Tappan saw as central to his mission for the University. To him, it was the mark of a true research university, dedicated to the sciences as well as the classics, and something that set the University apart from others. This sentiment is reflected in contemporary letters, such as one by William Reid, a student in the 1850s, who wrote to a friend at Dartmouth about the University's ownership of a "tellescope [sic] next largest in the U.S."—the Observatory's famous Fitz telescope—and suggested that it was one of "many reasons for preferring this College to Dartmouth."
From the William Reid papers
School pride in the Observatory is also seen in University publications, such as an 1857 University catalog, which devotes significant space to the Detroit Observatory and also notes a telescope, "which in size, is surpassed only by the Telescope in Cambridge, Mass., and by that in Pulkova in Russia…" The catalog also attempts to entice students with by mentioning that "Students who make Astronomy an optional study during the Senior year, or in the University course, will have instruction in the use of the instruments and will have an opportunity to participate in the observations." Clearly, the Observatory and its large telescopes were an effective public relations tool.
Record kept for the Signal Service, 1884.
From the UM Detroit Observatory
records, Box 12.
Although it was certainly a status symbol of sorts for the University, the Observatory had several factors working against it from the beginning. Most significant was the weather—Michigan is the second cloudiest state in the nation, and only Washington has fewer clear days per year. This meteorological disadvantage certainly worked against it as a major site for astronomy. Also, as the city of Ann Arbor grew, the Observatory was increasingly in proximity to campus, and by 1915, it was completely floodlit. Nonetheless, it was used for some important research, especially early on; James Watson discovered 19 comets using its telescopes, and it was
Anemograph record (detail),
1880. From the UM Detroit Observatory
records, Box 12.
used for a number of meteorological purposes. In the late 19th century, Observatory staff made daily, and sometimes hourly, reports on wind speed and direction, measured with anemographs. They also recorded information on weather for the Army Signal Service of the U.S. War Department. In this way, the Observatory contributed to the scientific pursuits and the reputation of the University from the beginning.
This exhibit was created in February 2009 by Bentley Library graduate assistant Shannon Wait, University of Michigan School of Information.