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

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[ Drawings from Survey HABS PA-6785  ]

More Resources

[ Data Pages from Survey HABS PA-6785  ]

About this Item

Title

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

Names

  • Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
  • Church, M H, architect
  • Newton, Don Carlos
  • Newton, Mary M
  • Arzola, Robert R, program coordinator
  • Utz, Steven B, field team

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1933

Headings

  • -  cruciform plan
  • -  domes
  • -  telescopes
  • -  pulleys
  • -  stone buildings (sandstone)
  • -  astronomy
  • -  Pennsylvania -- Crawford County -- Meadville

Latitude / Longitude

  • 41.64746,-80.146944

Notes

  • -  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

Medium

  • Measured Drawing(s): 1
  • Data Page(s): 7

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HABS PA-6785

Source Collection

  • Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • pa4141

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not license or charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material.

Ultimately, it is the researcher's obligation to assess copyright or other use restrictions and obtain permission from third parties when necessary before publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the Library's collections.

For information about reproducing, publishing, and citing material from this collection, as well as access to the original items, see: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS) Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information

  • Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: HABS PA-6785
  • Access Advisory: ---

Obtaining Copies

If Digital Images Are Displaying

You can download online images yourself. Alternatively, you can purchase copies of various types through Library of Congress Duplication Services.

HABS/HAER/HALS materials have generally been scanned at high resolution that is suitable for most publication purposes (see Digitizing the Collection for further details about the digital images).

  • Photographs--All photographs are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
    • Make note of the Call Number and Item Number that appear under the photograph in the multiple-image display (e.g., HAER, NY,52-BRIG,4-2).
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    • Make note of the Survey Number (e.g., HAER NY - 143) and Sheet Number (e.g., "Sheet 1 of 4"), which appear on the edge of the drawing. (NOTE: These numbers are visible in the Tiff "Reference Image" display.)
    • If possible, include a printout of the drawing.
  • Data Pages
    • Make note of the Call Number in the catalog record.

If Digital Images Are Not Displaying

In the rare case that a digital image for HABS/HAER/HALS documentation is not displaying online, select images for reproduction through one of these methods:

  • Visit the Prints & Photographs Reading Room and request to view the group (general information about service in the reading room is available at: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/info/001_ref.html). It is best to contact reference staff in advance (see: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/address.html) to make sure the material is on site. OR
  • P&P reading room staff can provide up to 15 quick copies of items per calendar year (many original items in the holdings are too old or fragile to make such copies, but generally HABS/HAER/HALS materials are in good enough condition to be placed on photocopy machines). For assistance, see our Ask a Librarian page OR
  • Hire a freelance researcher to do further selection for you (a list of researchers in available at: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/resource/013_pic.html).
  • You can purchase copies of various types, including quick copies, through Library of Congress Duplication Services (price lists, contact information, and order forms for Library of Congress Duplication Services are available on the Duplication Services Web site):
    • Make note of the Call Number listed above.
    • Look at the Medium field above. If it lists more than one item:
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  1. Is the item digitized? (A thumbnail (small) image will be visible on the left.)

    • Yes, the item is digitized. Please use the digital image in preference to requesting the original. All images can be viewed at a large size when you are in any reading room at the Library of Congress. In some cases, only thumbnail (small) images are available when you are outside the Library of Congress because the item is rights restricted or has not been evaluated for rights restrictions.
      As a preservation measure, we generally do not serve an original item when a digital image is available. If you have a compelling reason to see the original, consult with a reference librarian. (Sometimes, the original is simply too fragile to serve. For example, glass and film photographic negatives are particularly subject to damage. They are also easier to see online where they are presented as positive images.)
    • No, the item is not digitized. Please go to #2.

  2. Do the Access Advisory or Call Number fields above indicate that a non-digital surrogate exists, such as microfilm or copy prints?

    • Yes, another surrogate exists. Reference staff can direct you to this surrogate.
    • No, another surrogate does not exist. Please go to #3.
  3. If you do not see a thumbnail image or a reference to another surrogate, please fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room. In many cases, the originals can be served in a few minutes. Other materials require appointments for later the same day or in the future. Reference staff can advise you in both how to fill out a call slip and when the item can be served.

To contact Reference staff in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, please use our Ask A Librarian service or call the reading room between 8:30 and 5:00 at 202-707-6394, and Press 3.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, M H Church, Don Carlos Newton, Mary M Newton, Robert R Arzola, and Steven B Utz. Allegheny College, Newton Memorial Observatory, North Main Street, South of Ruter Hall, Meadville, Crawford County, PA. Meadville Crawford County Pennsylvania, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/pa4141/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, C., Church, M. H., Newton, D. C., Newton, M. M., Arzola, R. R. & Utz, S. B. (1933) Allegheny College, Newton Memorial Observatory, North Main Street, South of Ruter Hall, Meadville, Crawford County, PA. Meadville Crawford County Pennsylvania, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/pa4141/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, et al. Allegheny College, Newton Memorial Observatory, North Main Street, South of Ruter Hall, Meadville, Crawford County, PA. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/pa4141/>.