Wednesday, March 31, 1999
Historic observatory in new hands
Neighbors to become stewards
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The “Birthplace of American Astronomy” will get a new steward today.
Operations of the 156-year-old Cincinnati Observatory in Mount Lookout will be transferred from its owner, the University of Cincinnati, to the Cincinnati Observatory Center Inc., a group of neighbors and astronomy supporters who lobbied UC to preserve it.
UC trustees are expected to approve a 40-year lease with the group at their monthly meeting at UC this morning. The state also allocated $100,000 to start renovations, said Juan Santamarina, an observatory neighbor who led the fight to preserve it.
“It's a great partnership,” Mr. Santamarina said. “We're basically doing the best we can do for each other. It's a good stewardship for the Cincinnati Observatory.”
The hilltop observatory, a national historic landmark, was the first in the United States to use a professional telescope and issue daily weather bulletins.
UC officials in 1997 pro posed spending $8.75 million to expand it into an astronomy and space education center.
But neighbors of the 9.5-acre site off Observatory Place worried the plan would destroy the site's historic value and draw too much traffic to their quiet, narrow streets.
Neighbors came up with another plan that expanded the observatory's educational programs while preserving the neighborhood's character.
About 6,500 people a year visit the observatory, compared with 1,500 a year before supporters started the new programs. UC's original plan projected 26,000 visitors annually.
“It's really cutting-edge education that's taking place within the historic setting of a 19th-century observatory,” Mr. Santamarina said.
UC spokesman Greg Hand agreed: “The observatory is a historical gem and an architectural gem.”
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