Chamberland Observatory

In 1888, Humphrey B. Chamberlain, the primary donor for the observatory, pledged $50,000 for the observatory building and equipment. Chamberlain was at the time, a real estate investor, and donated the very land that the observatory sits on today. Professor Herbert A. Howe, was the astronomer at the University of Denver at the time, oversaw the design, construction, equipment specifications and bidding for the observatory. The lenses for the telescope were machined by Alvan Clark & Sons out of Cambridge, Mass. To help pay for the work, Chamberlain gave partial payment in land holdings he had at the time.

The Silver Panic of 1893 caused the bottom to drop out of real estate values and hit Denver harder than any other city at the time. Much of the land holdings used to pay Clark & Sons dropped in value. Chamberlain went bankrupt and Professor Howe ended up personally performing much of the work and paying for many costs out of his own pocket to complete the project.

Trial celestial observations began at the Chamberlain observatory on July 14, 1894. The first public use of the observatory was on August 1 st, a few weeks later when Professor Howe entertained the Swedish Methodist Christian Endeavor Society with a viewing of Saturn.