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44-535: The observatory was founded on February 15, 1859, in the city of Allegheny, Pennsylvania (incorporated into the City of Pittsburgh in 1907) by a group of wealthy industrialists calling themselves the Allegheny Telescope Association . The observatory's initial purpose was for general public education as opposed to research, but by 1867 the revenues derived from this had receded. The facility

88-456: A Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania , hotel wastepaper basket. It being scratched made it useless so it was re-ground by lens maker Alvan Clark . When it was reinstalled the clarity was improved so the lens-napping benefited the observatory. In gratitude, Langley added Clark's name to the telescope. Langley also researched heavier-than-air flight behind the observatory. To study the aerodynamic behavior of different forms traveling at high speeds he built

132-409: A "Greater Pittsburg" in a special election held on June 12, 1906 and was effected on December 9, 1907, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court 's landmark decision Hunter v. City of Pittsburgh handed down on November 19 that year. It was approved by the federal government in 1911. The annexation was controversial at the time, as an overwhelming majority of Allegheny City residents were opposed to

176-534: A bus garage. By the middle of the 19th century, the "Made in Allegheny" label could be found not only on basic iron but on rope, plows, cotton cloth, wool, food, paper, paint, steam engines, wagons and carts, meat, soap, candles, lumber, linseed oil, furniture and a host of other diversified products. Railroad lines were built along the north side of the Allegheny for the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago and

220-557: A large spring "whirling arm" to which stuffed birds and wings he made were attached. After leaving Allegheny Observatory to become secretary of the Smithsonian in 1888, he continued his flight research, designing and flying the first, unmanned, aircraft capable of stable continuously powered flight from a houseboat on the Potomac River . His full-size manned Aerodrome was funded by the U.S. Army. Two well-publicized crashes of

264-464: A lecture hall. In 1869, Langley created income for observatory by selling subscription service to time that was accurately determined by astronomical measurements and transmitted over telegraphs to customers. The Pennsylvania Railroad was the most influential subscriber to the "Allegheny Time" system. The Allegheny Observatory's service is believed to have been the first regular and systematic system of time distribution to railroads and cities as well as

308-461: A plan by John Redick . The lots were sold in Philadelphia by Pennsylvania 's state government or given as payment to Revolutionary War veterans. It was incorporated as a borough in 1828 and as a city in 1840. Prior to the 1850s, most of the area was still largely farmland, but was subdivided into residential lots, first for the growing German population and later for Croat immigrants. It

352-445: Is a tan brick and white terra cotta hilltop temple whose Classical forms and decoration symbolize the unity of art and science. The L-shaped building consists of a library, lecture hall, classrooms, laboratories, offices, and three hemispherical domed telescope enclosures. Two were reserved for research; one for use by schools and the general public. The core of the building is a small rotunda , housing an opalescent glass window depicting

396-655: The Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny in Allegheny City. St. Anthony Chapel Built on Troy Hill between 1880 & 1892 by Father Suitbert Mollinger, the chapel houses the largest collection of religious relics outside of the Vatican and features life sized Stations of the Cross statues. Allegheny was the location of Exposition Park and Recreation Park , which were the earliest home fields of

440-543: The National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The Teutonia Männerchor is a private membership club with the purpose of furthering choral singing, German cultural traditions and good fellowship. The club features a number of heritage activities and celebrations, including choral singing in German and folk dancing. The Priory is the name for two historic landmarks – the 1852 St. Mary's German Catholic Church and

484-859: The Old Post Office Building , and the Buhl Planetarium buildings were not demolished. Major portions of the neighborhoods of Allegheny West , Manchester , Central Northside , California-Kirkbride ( Old Allegheny Rows ), and East Allegheny are listed on the National Register of Historic Places , including the Mexican War Streets in Central Northside. Allegheny was an industrial city and had numerous commercial areas, churches, and social organizations, packing houses, tanneries, soap factories and glue factories that provided opportunities for employment to

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528-742: The Pittsburgh Pirates professional baseball team (founded as the Allegheny Base Ball Club). On the North Side of Pittsburgh today are PNC Park , home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Acrisure Stadium (formerly Heinz Field), home of the Pittsburgh Steelers . These facilities replaced Three Rivers Stadium , which was the shared home of both teams. The Felix Brunot mansion on Stockton Avenue

572-591: The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad railroads in Allegheny. When workers in Pittsburgh struck against the Pennsylvania Railroad after wage cuts in July 1877, railroad workers on these lines also went on strike. The Teutonia Männerchor Hall in the East Allegheny (Deutschtown) neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a building constructed in 1888. It was listed on

616-522: The 1950s and the site is now occupied by Triangle Tech . The main active research pursuit at the Allegheny Observatory involves detections of extrasolar planets . This is done using photometry, which is the practice of measuring the brightness of stars. The brightness of a target star and its close neighbors are measured on digital images taken every 30–60 seconds, and if a planet crosses (transits) in front of its parent star's disk, then

660-469: The 36-inch (91 cm) telescope at Lick Observatory (still the third-largest), and later the 40-inch (100 cm) at Yerkes Observatory , which remains the largest successful refracting telescope in the world. Although not specifically searching for double stars , he did make a number of discoveries while testing his completed telescope objectives, including Mu Herculis , 8 Sextantis , and 95 Ceti. One of Clark's sons, Alvan Graham Clark , discovered

704-535: The Aerodrome in 1903 ended his flight research. The original observatory building was replaced by the current structure, shown in the photograph above. It was designed in the Classic Revival style by Thorsten E. Billquist. The cornerstone was laid in 1900, and the new structure was completed in 1912. It is located four miles north of downtown Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , at Riverview Park . The building

748-527: The Allegheny Observatory to search for extrasolar planets as well as to follow up on claims of extrasolar planets, starting in 1972. This is done using astrometry, which is the practice of measuring the position of stars. In addition to studying the positions of stars on the thousands of photographic plates in the vaults of the observatory, George Gatewood also designed the Multichannel Astrometric Photometer (MAP) for use with

792-497: The Greek muse of astronomy, Urania , designed by artist Mary Elizabeth Tillinghast . A crypt in the basement of the observatory holds the ashes of two eminent astronomers and former directors of the Allegheny Observatory, James Edward Keeler and John Brashear . [1] In addition, the crypt holds the remains of Brashear's wife Phoebe and Keeler's wife Cora Matthews Keeler and son Henry Bowman Keeler. The original observatory building

836-496: The Thaw telescope to measure the position of a target star and its close neighbors on images taken 6 months apart. This technique takes advantage of parallax. If the target star has a companion then it will wobble due to the gravitational pull of the unseen companion. The size of the companion can be measured by the size of the wobble. MAP is no longer in use and the Thaw telescope is in the process of rewiring and upgrading. A model of

880-698: The University of Pittsburgh for education, astronomical research, and public lectures and tours. Alvan Clark Alvan Clark (March 8, 1804 – August 19, 1887), born in Ashfield, Massachusetts , was an American astronomer and telescope maker. He started as a portrait painter and engraver (c.1830s–1850s), and at the age of 40 became involved in telescope making. Using glass blanks made by Chance Brothers of Birmingham, England, and Feil-Mantois of Paris, France, his firm Alvan Clark & Sons ground lenses for refracting telescopes . Their lenses included

924-420: The adjacent 1888 home for Bavarian Benedictine priests and brothers. Once a largely German parish, the church later merged with nearby Italian and Polish congregations. The church and rectory have since closed. The buildings are operated as a banquet hall and a bed-and-breakfast . Although Penn Brewery began in 1987, it is housed in the old Eberhardt & Ober Brewery (1882–1906) buildings. Penn Brewery makes

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968-428: The annexation bill passed into law. Allegheny City residents tried unsuccessfully for years to have the annexation overturned in court. The population of Pittsburgh rose from 321,616 in 1900 to 533,905 in 1910, which included the 132,283 who lived in Allegheny in 1910, when the last separate census of Allegheny was taken. When the two cities were joined, both of the old ward systems were discarded. A new ward system

1012-590: The award-winning Penn Pilsner and a number of other specialty beers. The " tied house " (brewery owned restaurant) features a full German menu and live music. Saint Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church , nestled in the hillside above the Allegheny River, was the first Croatian Church built in the United States. The structure was razed in January 2013. Ridge Avenue, in its heyday between 1890 and 1910,

1056-485: The city of Allegheny. Robinson, who contrary to some popular tellings did not actually serve in the Mexican War , subdivided his land and named the new streets after the battles and generals (Buena Vista Street, Filson Way, Monterey Street, Palo Alto Street, Resaca Place, Sherman Avenue, Taylor Avenue) of that war. Through his foundation matching fund, Andrew Carnegie contributed to the financing and construction of

1100-545: The continent synchronized their schedules based on this signal. The standard time that began on this day continues in North American use to this day. The revenues from the sale of time signals covered Langley's salary and the bills. Allegheny Observatory continued to supply time signals until the US Naval Observatory started offering it for free in 1920. More recently George Gatewood began using

1144-450: The dim companion of Sirius . Two craters bear Clark Sr.'s name. The crater Clark on the Moon is jointly named for him and his son, Alvan Graham Clark, and one on Mars is named in his honour. His other son was George Bassett Clark ; both sons were partners in the firm. Clark was also competitive in target shooting and received a patent for his device to allow bullets to be seated into

1188-612: The largest in the world at the time: the 18.5-inch (47 cm) at Dearborn Observatory at the Old University of Chicago (the lens originally intended for Ole Miss ); also the two 26-inch (66 cm) telescopes at the United States Naval Observatory and McCormick Observatory , the 30-inch (76 cm) at Pulkovo Observatory , which was destroyed in the Siege of Leningrad (only the lens survives),

1232-518: The merger. Previous Pennsylvania law had directed that a majority of the voters in each merging municipality had to approve an annexation agreement. In 1906, the State Assembly passed a new law that authorized annexations if a majority of the total voters in both combined municipalities approved the merger. The annexation was rejected by the residents of Allegheny City by a 2:1 margin, but was approved by much more populous Pittsburgh residents, and

1276-527: The observatory to the Western University of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pittsburgh ) in 1867, after which it was used for astrophysical, solar, and planetary studies. The observatory maintained a successful subscription time service to railroads via telegraph for many years. A new Allegheny Observatory was built between 1900 and 1912 in today's Riverview Park. It is owned and operated by

1320-432: The observed visual brightness of the star drops a small amount. The amount the star dims depends on the relative sizes of the star and the planet. The research team consists of students at the University of Pittsburgh whose observations have recently contributed to a collaborative effort to observe a transit of the planet HD 80606 b . The group is also actively contributing to upgrading the Allegheny Observatory. In 2009,

1364-681: The origin of the modern standard time system. By 1870, the Allegheny Time service extended over 2,500 miles with 300 telegraph offices receiving time signals. On November 18, 1883, the first day of railroad standard time in North America , the Allegheny Observatory transmitted a signal on telegraph lines operated by railroads in Canada and the United States . The signal marked noon, Eastern Standard Time, and railroads across

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1408-600: The original observatory can be found in the Miniature Railroad & Village exhibit at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh and in 2012 a documentary film was released covering the observatory's history. Langley was the director when he returned home in Allegheny City on July 8, 1872, following a conference. Observatory staff advised him that the lens of the 13 inch Fitz Telescope had been taken for ransom which Langley refused to pay; an argument with

1452-414: The present Pittsburgh neighborhoods of Allegheny Center , Allegheny West , Brighton Heights , California-Kirkbride , Central Northside , Chateau , East Allegheny , Fineview , Manchester , Marshall-Shadeland , North Shore , Perry South , Spring Hill–City View , and Troy Hill ; most of Perry North ; and parts of Northview Heights and Spring Garden . Allegheny was laid out in 1788 according to

1496-471: The primarily German immigrants who settled there. The H.J. Heinz Company built its factory in Allegheny City, close to the Chestnut Street bridge (this has been replaced by the 16th Street Bridge ). Heyl & Patterson Inc. , a manufacturer of railcar dumpers and ship unloaders, also established a factory in Allegheny City. The surviving structures are now occupied by a furniture warehouse and

1540-524: The public to look through the 13" telescope but if it were a cloudy night "they would be given an illustrated lecture on astronomy." John Brashear once said "the Allegheny observatory would remain forever free to the people" and to this day it has although in modern times the free public tours are only offered a couple nights each week. Video 40°28′57″N 80°01′15″W  /  40.482525°N 80.020829°W  / 40.482525; -80.020829 Allegheny, Pennsylvania Allegheny City

1584-405: The university's Department of Geology and Planetary Science installed Western Pennsylvania's only seismic station, which is connected to IRIS Consortium networks, in the observatory. When the new Allegheny Observatory was designed it was done with the public in mind; the floor plan included a lecture hall. When the new facility first went into operation, on every clear evening it was opened for

1628-401: The unknown lens-napper ensued without resolve. It has been speculated that Langley knew the identity of the lens-napper, his or her identity is still a mystery. The lens-napper thought that with the involvement of the newspapers investigating the incidents his identity may be discovered so told Langley he could have back the lens. No clue was given as to its location but it was eventually found in

1672-632: Was a municipality that existed in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1788 until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. It was located north across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh , with its southwest border formed by the Ohio River , and is known today as the North Side . The city's waterfront district, along the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, became Pittsburgh's North Shore neighborhood. The area of Allegheny City included

1716-424: Was commonly referred to as "Deutschtown", derived from the German word Deutsch , referring to the language and ethnicity. Allegheny annexed adjoining municipalities such as the boroughs of Manchester, Spring Garden and Duquesne, and the areas that became Brighton Heights, Observatory Hill, Perry Hilltop, Summer Hill, Spring Hill and Troy Hill. The annexation of Allegheny by Pittsburgh began with voting in favor of

1760-533: Was converted into an athletics training facility in 1907 and used by the university's football team . The original observatory building was sold, along with the rest of the adjacent university buildings, to the Protestant Orphan Asylum prior to the move of the main academic portion of the university to the Oakland section of Pittsburgh in 1909. The original observatory building was torn down in

1804-462: Was established made up of 27 wards. In the new ward system, Allegheny was divided into wards 21 to 27. Its past territory is easily seen by viewing a map of the city wards. In the 1960s, Pittsburgh undertook a massive urban redevelopment project that demolished the historic core of Allegheny City, leaving only the Commons of Allegheny Center and its surrounding neighborhoods. The Carnegie Library ,

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1848-491: Was known as "Millionaires' Row". After 20 years, the area began to decline as some residents moved further out. The entire North Side community began to fray after having been annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. In the late 19th century, Allegheny became known for its stately homes, occupied by some of the area's wealthy families. One such area became known as The Mexican War Streets. The Mexican War Streets were laid out in 1847 by William Robinson Jr. , who had earlier been mayor of

1892-631: Was once used as a station on the Underground Railroad . Fugitive slaves from the South stopped here for food and shelter. While Pennsylvania was a free state, many slaves continued to Canada to gain more distance from slavecatchers. The original Allegheny Observatory was built in 1859 near Perrysville Avenue, by prominent Allegheny citizens who formed the Allegheny Telescope Association. The association donated

1936-520: Was then donated to the Western University of Pennsylvania , today known as the University of Pittsburgh . The University hired Samuel Pierpont Langley to be the first director. One of the research programs initiated under his leadership was of sunspots . He drew very detailed drawings of sunspots which are still used in astronomical textbooks to this day. He also had the building expanded to include dark rooms, class rooms, dormitories, and

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