Cincinnati Observatory: A national first and forerunner of the U.S. Weather Service
On Nov. 9, 1843, the Cincinnati Observatory was founded after Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, a West Point-trained civil engineer hired by Cincinnati College, began giving lectures in astronomy in 1842. The enthusiastic response he received led him to establish the nation’s oldest professional observatory on what was then called Mt. Ida (what we call Mt. Adams today).
Mitchel’s dedication was boundless — and perhaps a bit foolhardy — as he promised his services to the observatory with no salary for 10 years.
Former U.S. President John Quincy Adams journeyed to Cincinnati at age 77 to give what was his last public speech to lay the cornerstone, leading the Cincinnati Astronomical Society to rename the neighborhood in his honor.
The observatory was the pride of the nation as “the first astronomical establishment worthy of the name in the United States,” boasting the third largest telescope in the world. An engraving of that 16-foot long telescope actually accompanied the word “telescope” in Webster’s dictionary. (And while the instrument may today be obsolete, it still works after 175 years.)
The observatory’s magazine, “THE SIDEREAL MESSENGER,” was America’s first popular scientific publication when it came out in the 1840s. (The term, sidereal, roughly equates to “starry.”) Later, in the late 1860s, the observatory served as a forerunner of the National Weather Service, issuing daily weather reports and storm predictions. These were begun by director Cleveland Abbe who thus acquired the nickname of “Old Probs” (Probabilities) by the Western Union clerks who distributed his weather predictions. Abbe went on to become the director of the first national weather bureau in 1870.
The observatory also served as the city’s time clock. A century ago and longer, the most-accurate clock was the universe itself. Most observatories, including Cincinnati’s, kept special telescopes just to provide correct time to their communities. Weather permitting, the janitor at the UC Observatory raised a “time ball” on a pole and dropped it each day to signal noon. This tradition, established at several American observatories, is continued each New Year’s Eve on Times Square in New York City.
In 1871, the observatory came under the control of UC. Two years later, it moved from Mt. Adams to its current Mt. Lookout location, one of the highest points in Hamilton County, in order to escape the smoke and dirt of the city. The cornerstone of this new location was the same stone dedicated Nov. 9, 1843, by John Quincy Adams.
And just as in 1843, the observatory is regularly open to the starry-eyed public.
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