Elgin Observatory - Elgin, IL
Posted by: 
cldisme
N 42° 01.795 W 088° 16.427
16T E 394556 N 4653882
An observatory built to calibrate watches.
Waymark Code: WMBCN3
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 05/06/2011
Views: 7
3. The ELGIN OBSERVATORY (apply Elgin National Watch Company for permit), Watch and Raymond Sts., is housed in a small white stone buiding that caps a green hill. The observatory was built in 1909 by the Elgin Watch Company to obtain sidereal time for the regulation of Elgin Watches. From a list of 800 fixed stars, 10 or 12 are chosen nightly, and are followed across the heavens. An automated electric recording device graphs time on a revolving drum. Variations of one-thousandth of a second in the master clocks can be checked. These clocks, of the Riefler type, are mounted on a concrete pier, separate from the buiding, in vacuum glass cases maintained at a temperature varying not more than one-tenth of a degree from 85°F. Secondary clocks relay the impulses by which workers time watches in the factory. A direct line conveys the impulses to the Chicago office of the company in the Pure Oil Building, where they are relayed to radio stations, utility companies, and other agencies requiring exact time.
Illinois: a Descriptive and Historical Guide (1939) - Page 321 - Elgin
Once the Elgin National Watch Company began to realize their business was floundering and a timekeeping observatory was obsolete, they turned the facility over to the Elgin School District for educational purposes in 1960.
To bring additional educational resources to the building, the Elgin School District added a planetarium to the rear in 1963.
The observatory was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
Book: Illinois
Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 321
Year Originally Published: 1939
|
Visit Instructions:
To log a Visit, please supply an original image of the Waymark.
Recent Visits/Logs:
| There are no logs for this waymark yet. |
|
|
|