1965 Observatory
In 1962, after one wall of the building collapsed during renovations, the entire old Observatory was razed. In 1963, a new Observatory was constructed on the hill overlooking the stadium. Partial funding for the building was provided by a National Science Foundation Grant of $50,000.00, which stipulated that not more than $45,500.00 could be used for construction of the building and not more than $4,500.00 could be used for general-purpose research equipment. The building included laboratories, offices, research facilities, night astronomers' quarters, a transit room, and the original telescope from the old Observatory. The 1963 blueprint for the building included plans for a planetarium with a dome, thirty feet in diameter, that would seat approximately sixty people, which was to be located to the rear of the building behind the central foyer. The planetarium was not included in the contract.
This building in other years: 1895 | 1915 | 1945 | 1985 | Current Back to the Bucknell History Page | Back to the 1965 Page