Once upon an increasingly long time, Rochester was home to the largest and most advanced telescope in the United States of America, outside the Naval Observatory. This powerful astronomical instrument set Rochester apart as a star-gazing capital in the 1880s, and drew much admiration and attention from the astronomically-inclined set.

Like many of Rochester’s greatest accomplishments, it was bankrolled by a kooky capitalist investor–and, also like many of Rochester’s greatest failures, was done away with by said capitalist’s careening failures. But thankfully, in the scarce decade between enterprise and explosion, some excellent astronomical work was done by local amateur-turned-pro astronomer, Lewis Swift.

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Lewis Swift

Born February 20th, 1820 into a rural farming family in Marathon, New York, Swift was early on struck by an accident which left him unable to walk or even stand for any great length of time without considerable discomfort. As this didn’t allow him to help on the family farm, Swift would make money for the Swift household by operating a hardware store.

He was early on very interested in astronomical phenomena, especially comets and nebulae–which would be the focus of his later explorations as well.

The above states that in 1858, Swift built a three-inch telescope, but klima-luft.de claims he had already purchased his 4.5″ refractor telescope built by Henry Fitz.

In Rochester, Swift went into the hardware business with his brother-in-law, Nicholas Gordinier, husband of his sister Sarah Ann. After Gordinier’s death in 1876, his son E. Dayton Gordinier took up partnership.

The business was located on State Street near Vincent Park, which is modern Smith Street.

That would be around this location on State Street, albeit the original buildings have all been replaced since Swift’s time.

After coming to Rochester, he arranged access to a rooftop stargazing perch atop Duffy’s Cider Mill on White Street, off Lake Avenue, where cold winds made Swift’s observations a somewhat miserable affair.

Duffy’s small cider mill would eventually become the great Rochester Distilling Company, with its eye-catching façade on the corner of White Street and Lake Avenue.

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Hulbert Harrington Warner

Along came Hulbert Harrington Warner, a capitalist of some renown who had made his immense wealth in the patent medicine trade. Warner had a special interest in astronomy, especially comets, and threw his backing behind the observatory, financing the construction of the building while the telescope was purchased by Rochesterians with funds raised via subscription.

Warner’s ornate home was built only a couple blocks away from the observatory site, on the corner of Goodman Street and East Avenue. The two structures shared an architect, John Rochester Thomas.

I’ll get into Warner’s house in an upcoming entry, along with its demise. But this entry is about the observatory.

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Planning an Observatory

John Rochester Thomas drew an architectural drawing and plans for an observatory, which would serve as the basis for the Warner Observatory in the event of a 16″ telescope being purchased.

Interestingly, there were a number of engineering considerations that were required to be taken when building an observatory, due to the nature of the undertaking. Vibration was a massive nuisance to telescopic observation, for even the smallest shake could jostle a carefully-tuned telescope far off course. Therefore, the telescope itself had to sit on a solid and deeply-set foundation, upon which would be built an isolated stone column topped off with a single round flagstone. This round flagstone would serve as the unshakeable base on which the support machinery for the telescope would be installed.

A number of other engineering solutions to problems of astronomical observation are laid out in the below article:

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Constructing the Observatory

With funding secured and plans in place, construction could begin in earnest. But delays were constantly popping up during the process, dragging the construction of the observatory on far longer than it was originally estimated to be.

The spectroscope, or optical spectrometer was paid for by wealthy local seedsman, Hiram Sibley, who gave $1,000 dollars for the instrument, which helps an astronomer analyze the colors in light. It was then known as the “Sibley spectroscope”.

Christian Stein was the noted mason who did much of the ornate stonework on and inside the Warner Observatory.

An exciting part of the construction took place on October 21st, 1881: the winching into place of a massive, 5,500 pound circular flagstone to cap off the isolated telescope pillar.

The eminent telescope-maker and astronomer, Alvan Graham Clark, came to the observatory to superintend the installation and calibration of the powerful new telescope:

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The Warner Observatory

By early 1883, the Warner Observatory was nearly complete; only a spectroscope and sidereal clock were still on order.

Engraver Lewis Higinbotham created the below illustration of the Warner Observatory:

The below gives a glimpse at many of the more technical aspects of the observatory’s operation. One can, of course, see the eyepieces and fine calibrators of the telescope, being handled by Lewis Swift.

Also visible is the “A. R. A. Circle”, or “Automatic Right Ascension Circle”, a term coined by Swift himself, for a device used to accurately calibrate the telescope’s position based on the principle of Right ascension.

In 1885, Swift’s erstwhile observatory at Duffy’s cider mill was destroyed by fire; the artist Peter Cameron happened to be at the scene, and put his hand to sketching it. This sketch was then gifted to Swift, who had until so recently perched his telescope on the roof which was destroyed by the flames.

Here we see Swift reclining on a special sort of ladder or tiered bench or bleachers, I don’t know what to call them, which were mounted to a circular track; this allowed Swift to be seated comfortably at different angles and heights while observing.

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The Third Presbyterian Problem

Ironically, it was an appeal to the heavens which shuttered Swift’s own explorations of the same. The Third Presbyterian Church planned a new and stately edifice for their church on the corner of Meigs Street and East Avenue, much taller than the previous one. Naturally, this would produce a prominent visual blockage to astronomical observations of the western horizon.

Although this was really only a partial setback to the enterprise; the final nail in the coffin of Warner’s Observatory was Warner’s own finances. He was forced into bankruptcy after the Panic of 1893 stymied stock sales, cutting off the company’s supply of capital. Warner’s life as a Rochester magnate and philanthropist were as good as done.

The Warner Observatory was abandoned; the grand old telescope plucked from its heart and removed to its new home on the promontory of Echo Mountain, California: the Mount Lowe Observatory.

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A Swift Departure

With the abandonment of Warner’s patronage, Swift was left looking about for new employment–and the shrewd businessman Thaddeus S. C. Lowe snapped him up, for Lowe’s new pet observatory atop Echo Mountain.

Swift remained in the position of observatory head until 1900, when the failure of his vision became too pronounced to accurately make sightings, at which point he turned over the operation of the observatory to Edgar Lucien Larkin.

Lewis Swift died in 1913; his remains were taken back to his hometown in Marathon, NY, to be interred at Marathon Cemetery.

In 1928, severe windstorms badly damaged the Mount Lowe Observatory at Echo Mountain; the optic components of the telescope were saved by the forward thinking of Charles Lawrence, who removed them for safekeeping when the winds really started getting intense. This would, remarkably, be the second time Lawrence played a part in saving the telescope, the first being from a fire in 1905.

In 1932, the telescope was removed to the newly-built Ricard Observatory at Santa Clara University, where it was refurbished in 1995 to full operational capacity. Unfortunately, the Ricard Observatory dome was sealed in 2000, and the old telescope of Lewis Swift has been blind to the sky for the last twenty-six years.

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After Swift

The departure of Lewis Swift left the old observatory building emptied of purpose. The tin dome still stood atop the mossy old mountain of brick, lending an unusual character to the building now divorced of its original reasoning.

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The Vernon Academy & Sanatorium

Enter Albert Vernon Hart, fresh on the Rochester scene in 1900. Originally from Freeport, Maine, A. Vernon Hart was a student of sciences, albeit more than a few pseudosciences, with an especial interest in psychology, optics, and magnetism.

The Academy offered a course of study in Psychratism, a type of pseudoscience rooted in Mesmerism. The curriculum included “Psychratism (Mind Power), Personal Magnetism, Will Force, Mental and Magnetic Healing and all Occult Sciences, Taught either in classes at our Academy or through a correspondence course. We are not teaching simply the silly side of Hypnotism, but a general development of man’s mind and influencing power. Personal Will Force which is the great secret of success. This information will wonderfully help you either socially or financially. Develop your Mind Power and you are a power, a master not a slave. Learn how to be a leader.”

This publication also gives us glimpses into Vernon’s office as Academy president, and that of his vice-president, Henry H. Spaulding, as well as a consultation room and reception room. These must be spaces within the former Warner Observatory, although I cannot for certain say where.

We also get a glimpse into whatever nonsense this was:

It is around this time that Vernon would purchase a Thomas “Flyer”, the appellation first given to the 1904 model of Thomas Motor Company‘s motorcar. The Flyer and motoring became a fixation of Vernon’s, and he would engage in the exhibition of Thomas vehicles.

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East Avenue Library?

During its period lying fallow, there seems to have been some discussion about making the old Warner Observatory into an East Avenue branch of the public library–even moving the contents of the Reynold’s Library from its Spring Street location to the old observatory.

Nothing seems to have come to fruition from any of these attempts.

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Boarded up Observatory

With no purpose on the horizon, the abandoned observatory had its doors and windows all boarded up:

Some people had some interesting ideas for what to do with the ageing, boarded-up husk of the old observatory, such as… putting a new telescope in it, and making it an observatory once again!

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Leveled at Last

And so, an iconic structure from Rochester’s starry past was gone forever. Rochester’s spot on the promontory of astronomy seemed to have slipped away into yesterday–or had it? For this city has become a giant in optics, whose lenses have peered out from satellites and space probes, seeing far beyond what Swift’s 16-incher could ever perceive. Through local company L3Harris, Rochester has even had a hand in the recently-launched Nancy Grace Roman Space Telesope.

Our city is still gazing at the stars.

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Tune in a fortnight from now and we’ll go into H. H. Warner’s house and its own, particular demise.

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