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Eclipse weekend to feature public open house at McKim Observatory
While McKim Observatory will not be open for viewing the total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, the DePauw University-owned facility will welcome visitors on Sunday, April 7 between 3 and 7 p.m.
This open house takes place during daylight hours, so viewing through the telescope won’t be possible. However, visitors will be able to explore the historic building and marvel at the antique but fully operational astronomical instruments it houses.
McKim Observatory is an excellent example of a late 19th-century American observatory. Built in 1884, it retains much of its original equipment and remains largely untouched by modernization.
Its first floor comprises four distinct rooms: The transit room, the chronograph room, the clock room and the library. The second floor consists of the equatorial room, which is home to the star of McKim Observatory: A Clark refracting telescope with a 9.53-inch objective lens made by the renowned Alvin Clark and Sons. The transit room is home to an operational Fauth and Co. meridian circle transit telescope. A functional Warner and Swasey chronograph completes the suite of original instruments and is housed in the chronograph room.
The clock room once held the observatory’s astronomical clocks, which are now on display in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at DePauw University. The library room preserves the original Biddle Library bookcase with a few of its original reference materials.
If planning a visit, note that the historic building is not ADA compliant. The access to the building is the set of stairs and the access to the second floor is by a wooden spiral staircase with a conventional steepness.
Also note that while McKim is an excellent example of a historic observatory, it lacks the modern convenience of a restroom.
On street parking is available in the residential neighborhood. McKim is located at 711 Highridge Ave., Greencastle, in the middle of the traffic circle at Highridge and DePauw avenues.