Lackadaisical Saturday

This week I have been bumming around the house thanks to a knee injury while playing tennis (the snap crackle, pop variety).  Go figure, the one weekend where we have nice weather I am grounded.  As a result I got in my car and decided to go exploring.  

I ended up in a few neighborhoods north of where I am living and stumbled upon the Allegheny Observatory.  Build in 1859 it was originally part of the city of Allegheny until the city was incorporated into the city of Pittsburgh in 1907.  First built for educating the public, funds soon began to dry up and the facility was donated to the University of Pittsburgh.  

While it has primarily been used for the study of astronomy (Samuel Pierpont Langley lead the study of sunspots and his drawings are still used today), on November 18th, 1883 the Observatory transmitted a signal on telegraph lines operated by railroads in Canada and the US to mark noon, Eastern Standard Time.  Yup, this was the first day of railroad standard time and railroads across the continent used their signal to synchronize their schedules.  In fact, revenue was brought in from the sale of time signals until 1920 when the US Naval Observatory started offering the times for free.  

In 1872, the 13 inch lens of the Fitz Telescope was stolen and held for ransom; Langley refused to pay the ransom.  The lens was later found in a wastepaper basket in Beaver Falls.  Unfortunately, the lens was badly scratched and needed to be reground.  The new lens was much better than the original and as a thank you Alvan Clark's name (the man who fixed the lens) was added to the telescope. 

It turns out that this was not the original location of the Allegheny Observatory.  The new building was finished in 1912, after half of the original building was used for Pitt's football team and the other half sold to an orphanage.  (Pitt later moved to Oakland, where it has remained over the last 100 years). 

Sadly the building is closed for the winter, fingers crossed they will be open again before I head out on my bike trip!  The Observatory is located in the middle of Riverview Park, and there is a great, hilly, 2 mile bike loop so I will definitely be back with my bike once the weather gets nice!