Installation of the Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium telescope: outside the Observatory

Description:	People stand next to the optical tube assembly, part of the telescope which will be lifted by crane through the opening of the dome and installed in the James Irving Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium. Standing to the right of the equipment is J. I. Holcomb (right), Butler University Board of Directors Vice President and Chair of the Buildings and Grounds Committee, while Arthur F. Lindberg, Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds, stands behind the equipment, on the right. Manufactured by J. W. Fecker, Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the 38-inch Cassegrainian reflector telescope was shipped by truck. Construction of the Indiana limestone building took approximately 18 months and fill dirt from the Ross Hall construction site (building opened September 12, 1954) was moved to this location, a high plot of land at the entrance to Holcomb Gardens. Dedicated on Friday, November 5, 1954, the structure was designed and planned by Lindberg; Holcomb; Dr. Harry E. Crull, Professor of Mathematics and Head of the Department of Mathematics; Robert Frost Daggett, consulting architect; and the firm of Ammerman, Davis and Stout, consulting engineers. On the dedication day, morning classes were shortened, and afternoon classes were cancelled so people could attend the dedication convocation, which was a part of the Homecoming festivities and the start of the celebrations for the Universitys centennial year. Reports vary, but the estimated cost of the building and the telescope was between $325,000 and $350,000, and J. I. and Musetta Holcomb provided the funding for the project. Installed in October 1954, this was not the Universitys first telescope. In 1896, a six-inch refractor telescope was donated to the University by Joseph I. Irwin, along with a small observatory on the Universitys Irvington campus. When the University moved to its current Fairview campus in 1928, the telescope was put into storage until 1934, when Irwins son, William Irwin, had the telescope rebuilt and installed on the roof of Jordan Hall. However, intermittent use due to a lack of astronomy faculty to teach courses saw the roof platform where the telescope was mounted and the telescope itself fall into disrepair, so the telescope was returned to storage. Reconditioned by J. W. Fecker, Inc., the smaller telescope became the guide telescope for the observatorys 38-inch telescope. Dr. Crull became the first Director of the Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium and according to the November 1957, edition of Butler Reports, an estimated 90,000 people visited the structure during its first three years (p. 7). According to the reminiscences of Lindberg, When we built the telescope [Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium] we hired carpenters from around town and we hired one young man with a tremendous physique and he joined the construction work stripped to the waist, to the admiration of the co-eds. I mention this because later Mr. Holcomb made a trip through South America and it was on this trip in Lima, Peru at a hotel and who was there but Jayne Mansfield and he was much impressed with the fact that he was staying at the same hotel. She had a tremendous party that night and he was not invited, and later when we were talking about it I told him that if he had remembered, the young man who had pounded nails in the dome and the observatory was the same Mickey Haggarty [Hargitay] that married Jayne Mansfield and he could have used that as an entry. Much to my surprise, I was told in so many words that this was the kind of thing he should have been abreast with and I should have informed him when he was in Lima, Peru that he knew Mickey Haggarty [Hargitay] and might have been invited to that party (1976, June, p. 6).
Origin:	1954-10
Created By:	Houghtalen, H. H.
Source:	http://palni.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/BldgsGrnds/id/2776
Collection:	Butler University Buildings and Grounds Collection
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/
Copyright:	In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Geography:	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, 39.841357, -86.171340 39.841357 -86.171340
Subjects:	Construction projects Construction equipment Cranes, derricks, etc. Telescopes Cassegrainian telescopes Observatories Planetariums Holcomb, J. I. (James Irving), 1876-1962 College trustees Rope Butler University--Buildings College buildings Butler University--History Indianapolis (Ind.)--History People James Irving Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium Holcomb Observatory Fairview campus

Further information on this record can be found at its source.