Cincinnati Observatory photograph

In 1842, Ormsby McKnight Mitchel, professor at Cincinnati College, arranged a subscription service, the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, to support the purchase of a large telescope. Nicholas Longworth donated land for the new observatory atop Mt. Ida. The cornerstone for the building was laid by John Quincy Adams in 1843; Mt. Ida was renamed in the former president's honor. Unable to sustain himself or the observatory, Mitchel left for New York; after the Civil War, the observatory passed into the hands of the University of Cincinnati. In 1873, the University relocated it to the present site at Mt. Lookout. Pictured here is the 1904 building, 3489 Observatory Place. Reverse reads: "Cinci., O. Jan. 1938. Cincinnati Observatory, from Kodak neg. furnished