USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > Centennial history of the city of Washington, D. C. With full outline of the natural advantages, accounts of the Indian tribes, selection of the site, founding of the city to the present time > Part 66
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79
This bill thus introduced by Mr. Adams provided for the erection, at the city of Washington, of an astronomical observatory, adapted to the most effectual and continual observation of the phenomena of the heavens, and providing the necessary machinery for carrying out the intention and will of Mr. Smithson; but it was not acted upon during that session of Congress.
634
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
December 12, 1844, Benjamin Tappan, of Ohio, introduced a bill into the Senate to establish the Smithsonian Institution, providing for the appointment of a board of managers who should select the location of the institution from that part of the Mall west of Seventh Street, and providing also that the institution to be established should be devoted to agriculture, horticulture, rural economy, chemistry, natural history, geology, architecture, domestic science, astronomy, and naviga- tion. In other words, according to this bill, the institution was to be a school or college. This plan was discussed in a most able manner from the day it was introduced until January, 1845, by Rufus Choate, of Massachusetts; James A. Pearce, of Maryland; Mr. Tappan; John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky; William Allen, of Ohio; Robert J. Walker, of Mississippi, and was finally passed January 23, 1845.
The idea of the House of Representatives was somewhat different from that embodied in the above bill. The question came up early in the session of 1845-46, and on February 28, 1846, Robert Dale Owen, chairman of the select committee, made an earnest appeal to the House to dispose of the subjeet, and presented for the considera- tion of the House the condition of the Smithsonian Fund; Arkansas was then behind in the payment of interest due up to December 31, 1845, $132,841.52; Illinois, $1,680; Michigan, $180.07; total interest in arrears, $134,701.59. The question came up April 22, 1846, as the special order of the day, and Mr. Owen made another most earnest and able appeal to the House to dispose of the subject. He said it was then sixteen years since Mr. Smithson died; it was nearly ten years since Congress accepted the trust; it was nearly eight years since the money arrived in this country, and yet though distinguished men, notably the Hon. John Quincy Adams, from Massachusetts, had made noble efforts to accomplish something, yet nothing had been done. He said that he knew that there were some strict constructionists in the House who would, even at this late day, vote to return the money to the British Court of Chancery; and immediately upon the making of this remark, George W. Jones, of Tennessee, distinguished himself by saying that he most certainly would. Upon the conclusion of Mr. Owen's speech, Mr. Jones moved to strike out all after the word "be" in the sixth line of the first section, and insert the following: "Paid by the Secretary of the Treasury to the heirs-at-law, or next ot kin, of the said James Smithson, or their authorized agents, whenever they shall demand the same; provided that the Secretary of the Treasury shall, in paying over said money as herein directed, deliver to said heirs all State bonds or other stocks of every kind
635
PUBLIC AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.
which have been purchased with said money, or any part thereof, in lieu of so much of said money as shall have been invested in said bonds or other stocks. And the balance of said sum of money, if any, not so invested, shall be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated."
If the above amendment should be rejected, then Mr. Jones said he was in favor of turning over to the Smithsonian Institution the same said bonds and stocks, and let that institution get what it could ont of them. John S. Chipman, of Michigan, supported the dis- honest and dishonorable plan of Mr. Jones. Mr. Owen's speech in reply to all the objections to the bill was most able and just; showing their flimsy and unreasonable character, and the essential injustice and lack of principle which the most of them involved. Notwith- standing Mr. Owen's convincing arguments and statements, Andrew Johnson could not be made to understand them, and he, like his col- league, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Chipman, favored sending the money back to England, and moved to add to the substitute of Mr. Jones the following words: "Not actually paid into the treasury by the States which have borrowed and used the fund." But to the ever- lasting honor of the House of Representatives, when the substitute of Mr. Jones came to be voted upon it was overwhelmingly defeated by a vote of 8 yeas to 115 nays. Finally, after numerous attempts to amend the bill, some of which were successful, the bill was passed by a vote of 85 yeas to 76 nays.
In the Senate, the bill passed August 10, 1846, by a vote of 26 to 13. It was signed by the President on the same day, and regents were appointed by both Houses of Congress. The chancellors of the insti- tution have been the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States since that time, and the Secretaries. By far the most import- ant officers connected with the institution have been the following: Professor Joseph Henry, elected in December, 1846, and who served until May 13, 1878, the date of his death; his successor, Professor Spencer Fulton Baird, who had been assistant to Professor Henry since 1850, and who served until his death, August 19, 1887; and Professor Baird's successor, the present incumbent, Professor S. P. Langley, who had been assistant to Professor Baird. Dr. G. Brown Goode is the assistant at the present time, and is in charge of the National Museum. William J. Rhees was chief clerk of the institution from the time of his appoint- ment in 1853 until October, 1891, when he was succeeded by William C. Winlock, son of the celebrated astronomer Winlock, though now the title of Mr. Winlock is not chief clerk, but assistant in charge of office.
636
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
Professor Henry was a most eminent physicist. He was especi- ally snecessful in his researches into the phenomena of electricity, and it is perhaps not too much to say that to him are we really indebted for the electric telegraph. He also instituted a great many elaborate experiments upon illuminating materials, and made many discoveries with reference to the burning of different kinds of oils. Ile also made valuable discoveries with reference to the laws of sound as applied to the construction of public buildings and lecture halls, and also as applied to the production of fog signals. One of his first administrative acts as secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was to organize a large and widespread corps of observers of meteorological conditions, and to make arrangements for simultaneous . reports by means of the telegraph. That is, he was the first to apply the telegraph to meteorological research and to utilize the generalizations made in weather forecasts, embracing the entire North American Continent under a single system.
Professor Baird, the successor of Professor Henry, was an eminent naturalist, and had been connected with the great surveys of the West. lle had contributed valuable reports relating to the products of the West, which are yet standard authority. After he became secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, he was made Fish Commissioner, and instituted many valuable researches into the habits and food of fishes, resulting in a great extension of knowledge of such matters.
Professor Langley, the present secretary, was selected as an eminent astronomer and solar physicist. He had made important contributions to solar physics, and has continued his experiments since he became secretary. He has also taken great interest and expended considerable time in researches into the laws and conditions of aerial flight. An astro-physical observatory has recently been established in connection with the institution, in which the professor is engaged in making observations on the solar atmosphere.
To close this history of the Smithsonian Institution, it may be proper to note the present amount of its funds. Besides the sum mentioned above, as the Smithsonian bequest, Mr. Smithson left what is known as a residuary bequest, amounting to £5,015, which was retained for the use of Madam de la Batut, who died in 1861. This sum was turned over to George Peabody & Company, in 1864. In their hands it had increased by March 3, 1865, to $26,210.63 in gold. Different portions of this amount were sold at different premiums, and when all was thus sold it netted to the fund $54,165.38.
With reference to the sums invested in State bonds, it should be
637
PUBLIC AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.
stated that no State defaulted but Arkansas, and also that nothing was lost even by the investment of the $500,000 in Arkansas bonds; for in adjusting accounts between that State and the United States the debt of Arkansas to the Smithsonian Fund had been retained in the United States Treasury. In 1891 the fund was increased by a donation thereto by Thomas G. Hodgkins, of Setauket, Long Island, of $200,000, and at the present time the fund amounts to $903,000, authority being granted by Congress February 8, 1867, to increase it to $1,000,000.
The United States Naval Observatory was authorized by an act of Congress approved by President Tyler Angust 18, 1842. This institu- tion, though not the finest, is yet one of the finest and most useful to science, navigation, and commerce in the world. When its usefulness and the dignity it confers upon the Nation are taken into considera- tion, it is a remarkable, if not a surprising, circumstance that so long a time should have elapsed before the establishment of any institution in the United States claiming the name of an astronomical observa- tory, excepting a few temporary structures erected during colonial times for special purposes.
Efforts had before been made, all looking in this direction. Action for the establishment of such an observatory originated in the earliest movements for the finding of a first meridian of the United States, a history of which may be found elsewhere in this volume. Memorials toward this object by Mr. William Lambert, of Virginia, were presented to the House of Representatives in 1810, 1815, and 1818. These memorials were approved by the House, and Mr. Lambert was appointed to make the necessary astronomical observations for deter- mining the longitude of the Capitol from Greenwich, England.
The first superintendent of the Coast Survey, Mr. F. R. Hassler, in his report made on returning from the purchase of his instruments in London, England, in 1816, recommended the establishment of an astronomical observatory in Washington, "as a national object, a scien- tifie ornament, and a means for encouraging an interest for science in general." Among the eminent men who supported Mr. Hassler's views were President Madison and Secretary of State A. J. Dallas. Mr. Hassler submitted a detailed plan for an observatory, and selected a site for it north of the Capitol.
Most prominent, however, among those who early advocated and persistently urged upon the Nation the founding of an astronomical observatory, was John Quincy Adams. In October, 1823, while Sec- rectary of State to President Monroe, in a letter to a member of the
638
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
corporation of Harvard College, Mr. Adams urged the establishment of such an observatory at Cambridge, offering to contribute $1,000 toward this objeet, provided the requisite sum should be raised within two years. At the expiration of that time, the amount not having been raised, Mr. Adams renewed his offer. But these efforts failed, the scientific spirit not having been sufficiently developed even in Harvard at that time.
In 1825, in his first message to Congress, he carnestly urged upon that body the establishment of a national observatory, the adoption of a uniform standard of weights and measures, the establishment of a naval academy, a nautical almanac, and a national university. Con- gress, however, treated all of these wise and patriotic recommendations with indifference and neglect. The reason, in part at least, for this neglect on the part of Congress, was the prevalence at that time among the dominant political party in that body, not only of an in- tense party rancor, but also of a bitter personal hatred of Mr. Adams himself, which made it impracticable for the intellectual vision of those members of Congress, influenced by those feelings, to perceive the great and permanent value of the recommendations to the country.
There were some members, however, who were not thus prejudiced and blind. Hon. C. F. Mereer, of Virginia, as chairman of the select committee of the House of Representatives to which, in the order of regular routine, the subject had been referred, strongly advocated the views of President Adams, and reported to the House, on March 18, 1826, a bill for the erection of a national observatory at the city of Washington, together with sundry documents containing estimates of the cost of erecting the necessary buildings for such an establish- ment, for the instruments and books which it would require, and for the compensation of a principal astronomer, two assistants, and two attendants. These estimates were based upon the principle of provid- ing the establishment at the smallest possible expense, to which end it was provided that the observatory should be attached to the engi- neer's office in the Department of War, and that the mathematical and astronomical instruments then belonging to that department should be transferred to the observatory. But the recommendations of the President and of the committee were permitted to lie on the tables of both Houses unnoticed, and it was reserved for the Emperor Nicholas, of Russia, to make the capital of his nation what the Capital of the United States should have been - the center of astronomical science, by the establishment of Pulkowa Observatory, the noblest observatory in the world.
PUBLIC AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 639
The first structure in Washington which may be properly termed a fixed astronomical observatory was erected on Capitol Hill in 1834, by Lieutenant Wilkes, for the naval depot of charts. It was equipped with a three and three-quarter inch transit instrument, made in 1815 for the Coast Survey, and loaned to the Navy Department on applica- cation of Lieutenant Wilkes, and with some portable instruments made for the use of an exploring expedition contemplated by the Govern- ment in 1828.
In June, 1838, information was received in this country that Mr. Smithson's bequest had been received for the founding of an institution at Washington, and Mr. Adams again made strenuous exertion for the establishment of an astronomical observatory as a part of that institution. Mr. Adams waited upon President Van Buren, and urged his views upon the subject, and a few months later, at the request of the Secretary of State, reduced his views to writing, advocating the appropriation of a part of the Smithsonian Fund to the establishment of an astronomical observatory. Although concurring in the views of Mr. Adams, President Van Buren took no action in the matter. Rec- ommendations for the establishment of an observatory had been made by Mr. Branch, Secretary of the Navy, in 1830; by his successor, Mr. Dickerson, in 1835, and by Mr. Paulding in 1838. In this year a series of observations was commenced in the small observatory con- nected with the depot of charts, under charge of Lieutenant James M. Gilliss, of the United States Navy, near the Capitol. These obser- vations were continued until 1842, and aided materially in bringing about the establishment of the present observatory. Hon. A. P. Upshur directed Lieutenant Gilliss to prepare a plan for an observ- atory, and the report of Lieutenant Gilliss, presented November 23, 1843, was accepted by the department, and the construction of a building, with its equipment for astronomical work, was placed in his charge.
Thus it is seen that there were many eminent men in high posi- tions in the Government who favored the establishment of such an institution. The reason for President Van Buren's inaction is perhaps to be found in the fact that the dominant political party, to which he belonged, and from which he expected future honors, was so filled with and actuated by animosity toward Mr. Adams, that whatever he favored they most necessarily opposed. Of this feeling Mr. Adams's biographer used the following language: "Opposition to the design became identified with party spirit, and to defeat it no language of contempt or of ridicule was omitted by the partisans of General Jack-
41
640
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
SON. In every appropriation which it was apprehended might be converted to its accomplishment, the restriction, 'and no other,' was carefully inserted." An illustration of this careful opposition is pre- sented in the second section of an act passed July 10, 1832, providing for the survey of the coast of the United States, by the following insertion :
" Provided, That nothing in this act, or in the act hereby revived, shall be construed to authorize the construction or maintenance of a permanent astronomical observatory."
In August, 1838, the United States Exploration Expedition having been organized, Lieutenant Gilliss was directed to take charge of the apparatus at the little observatory erected by Lieutenant Wilkes, and to observe moon-culminating stars as often as possible for use in determining differences of longitude in connection with the expedition. The building being found unsuitable for the purpose designed, it was remodeled by Lieutenant Gilliss, who procured two good clocks, - one for mean time, the other for sidereal time, -a three and one-fourth inch achromatic telescope, and a meridian circle. The observatory thus equipped was the first working observatory in the United States.
On March 5, 1840, (?) Mr. Adams, as chairman of the seleet committee on the Smithsonian Fund, made a report again advocat- ing the views which he had so often urged before. While the question was pending, the Senate passed a joint resolution providing for a joint committee on the Smithsonian Fund. The House, concurring, appointed as its portion of this committee the members of the select committee. The two portions of the committee failed to agree, and presented to their respective Houses separate reports. Mr. Adams, for his portion of the committee, made a report favoring the application of a portion of the income from the Smithsonian Fund toward the erection of an astronomical observatory; and Mr. Preston, of South Carolina, for the Senate portion of the committee, presented a directly contrary report.
On April 12, 1842, Mr. Adams, as chairman of the committee on the Smithsonian Fund, presented a third report, in the form of a bill, for the disposal of the Smithsonian Fund, including in his plan the construction and maintenance of an astronomical observatory, and while Mr. Adams's plan was rejected, yet that very Congress, at that very session, established an astronomieal observatory under a fictitious name, through a bill authorizing the construction of a depot for charts and instruments of the Navy of the United States, and this bill finally became a law August 31, 1842, in the following form:
" Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Navy be and he is
641
PUBLIC AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.
hereby authorized to contract for the building of a suitable house for a depot of charts and instruments of the Navy of the United States, on a plan not exceeding in cost the sum of $25,000.
"2. That the sum of $10,000 be and is hereby appropriated out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, toward carrying this law into effect.
"3. That the said establishment may be located on any portion of the public lands in the District of Columbia which the President of the United States may deem suited to the purpose."
Upon the , recommendation of Lieutenant Gilliss, who was ap- pointed by the Secretary of the Navy to prepare plans for the con- struction of the depot of charts provided for by this law, Reservation No. 4, as marked on the original plan of the city of Washington, was selected by President Tyler as the site of the proposed observa- tory. This reservation had been designated by President Washington in a letter written by him October 21, 1796, to the commissioners to lay out the city of Washington, as the site of a scientific institution, and had long been known in Washington as "University Square." This square lies on the north bank of the Potomac River, in the southwest part of the city of Washington; the north fronting on E Street, 810 feet; the east, on Twenty-third Street, 1,103 feet; the west, on Twenty-fifth Street, 620 feet, and the south fronting ou the Potomac River. The area of the square is somewhat more than seventeen acres.
The site of the main building erected on this square is ninety-five feet above high water in the Potomac. Its elevation gives a horizontal range of one and a quarter miles to the north, and of eight miles to the south.
The central building of the observatory is fifty feet and eight inches square, on the outside, from the foundation to a height of two feet and six inches above the ground. All the foundations to the ground line are of blue rock, and two feet thick; the remainder of the outside walls is of brick, and eighteen inches thick, finished in the best manner; the partition walls are of briek, and fourteen inches thick. The building is two stories high above the basement, with a parapet and balustrade of wood surrounding the top. It is surmounted by a revolving dome twenty-three feet in diameter, rest- ing on a circular wall built up to a height of seven feet above the roof. To the east, west, and south of this central building, wings were erected by Lieutenant Gilliss, the eastern and western wings being twenty-six feet in length and twenty-one feet wide, and the
642
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
south wing being twenty-one feet in length and the same width as the others.
After consulting Americans most conversant with subjects of this kind, Lientenant Gilliss went to Europe to consult with foreign astron- omers. In March, 1843, he returned home, and began the erection of the observatory as described above. The building was completed, the instruments mounted and adjusted, and the library procured within eighteen months, and all was ready for ocenpaney and use by Septem- ber, 1844. On October 1, 1844, Lieutenant M. F. Maury was assigned to the charge of the institution, and directed to remove thereto the nantical books, charts, and instruments of the depot of charts. A corps of three lieutenants, six midshipmen, and one other assistant were assigned him, and soon afterward four more lieutenants were assigned to the observatory. Within the year, three professors were as- signed to the corps, and the assistance of Mr. Sears C. Walker was procured, who was doubtless then one of the most practical and accomplished astronomers that the United States had produced. Mr. Walker, however, on account of difficulties with Lientenant Maury, remained at the observatory only until March, 1847, when he resigned; but during the time of his stay, he fixed the latitude of the dome of the observatory at thirty-eight degrees, fifty-three min- utes, and thirty-nine and twenty-five hundredths seconds.
In 1847 quarters were erected east of the main building, for the superintendent. In 1848 the east wing was extended twenty-four feet, connecting these quarters with the main building, and furnishing a store room for chronometers. In 1868 the observing-room for the transit cirele was erected, and the large dome for the twenty-six inch equatorial was completed in 1873.
As has been already stated, the latitude of the observatory, de- duced from observations made with the mural circle by Sears C. Walker in 1845 and 1846, is thirty-eight degrees, fifty-three minutes, and thirty-nine and twenty-five hundredths seconds. From observa- tions made with the same instrument in 1861 and 1864, inclusive, the latitude was found to be thirty-eight degrees, fifty-three minutes, and thirty-eight and eight-tenths seconds. The point to which all differ- ences of longitude measured from the observatory are referred, is the center of the dome, and the most probable value of its latitude is that last given above. For the determination of its longitude from Greenwich, by telegraph, the following data were communicated in an official letter of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, Angust 10, 1872:
643
PUBLIC AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.
Hours. Minutes. Seconds.
Determined in 1867
5
8
12.11
Determined in 1870
5
8
12.16
Determined in 1872.
5
S
12.10
Mean Difference of time
5 8 12.125
This gives for the longitude of the dome of the observatory seventy-seven degrees, three minutes, and one and eight hundred and seventy-five thousandths. The instruments in use in this observatory are as follows:
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.