Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-13
OBSERVATORY BUILDING.
Situated on Hill Back of Georgetown
University.

The coming commencement exercises of
Georgetown College have called to the mind
of Mr.. Joseph 1. Keefer, a member of the
Oldest Inhabitants Society, the history of
the little observatory building situated on a
hill back of Georgetown College, overlook
ing the Potomac river, and which Is often
the remark of trolley riders to and from
Cabin John.
Speaking of the matter Mr.. Keefer said:
THE first interest evidenced by the citi-
Zens of Washington and which led up to
the erection of the little observatory upon
the hill were the efforts of Mr.. William
Elliott, a Scotchman, who came to this
country early in 1850, selecting for his res
idence a beautiful site on Capitol Hill ad-
joining where General Washington had
proposed to build his winter residence.
The adjoining property was then occupied
by the young coast survey. The building
was afterward destroyed by the British
during the seige of 1872 when the Capitol
also burned.
Mr.. Elliott had "a picturesque cottage
resembling Mt. Vernon erected upon his
grounds, which stood until about 1867, when
it, together with the small buildings used
by him for an observatory, was torn away
to make room for modern improvements,
Elliott a great man for astronomy,
and coming from abroad and being con-
versant with the universities of Paris, OK
ford and the establishment at Greenwich,
set to making some preparations for a fu-
ture in this direction for our city. (The
meridian west of Greenwich was chosen
as the star upon the center of the Capitol
building as being the new point of interest,
which place is now stone slab back of the
White House upon which are the following
marks, u. S. Meridian 1S90D
Georgetown College at that time was
presided over by young, intelligent Jesuit
Rev Father Curley, and he being inter-
ested greatly in the subject of astronomy,
naturally became a friend of William Ell
lott, and the acquaintance grew warmer
as the years rolled by. Many long nights
Elliott and Father Curley spent in the
little building on Capitol Hill watching the
stars, and finally they decided to build a
new place for their works; consequently
the little observatory upon the hill back of
the college was planned and built by them,
with its revolving top, one of the first of
the kind in existence After the building
of the new observatory Elliott and his
Jesuit friends spent much time and labor
in the progress of the study of astronomy,
and in the following years gave great at
tention to matters pertaining to that chief
study and especially in 1916, when the
greatest event of the century, the discov
cry of the planet Neptune was hailed with
great delight and Georgetown came in for
no little share of the glory given for the
interest shown in the discovery of our
neighbor world.
Some years later, when a new genera
ton had come upon the scene. the faculty
Of Georgetown deemed 1t advisable to build
a larger building for the purpose of view
ing the stars, and the second building was
erected by the college adjoining the first
one. For number of years Georgetown
College was one of the leading institutions
in the United States for the study of
astronomy, and the subject came in for I'M
provement until the United States took
hold and now astronomy is one of our ma
tional studies. So much for the works of
William Elliott and Father Curley. The
old and first telescope used by them was in
the possession of the Elliott family until
the time of the civil war, when it was
taken from the family museum.
''The National Intelligencer, the first
newspaper published ~ this city, gave
William Elliott and Georgetown College
as the founders of the first observatory at
Washington, D. C. Elliott died in 1880 and
was buried in Congressional cemetery, the
Rev Fathers Matthews and Curley leading
the funeral procession. William Ellott's
brother Jonathan Elliott. published the
first directory or guide to Washington city
which was printed in the old Globe bindery
on Pennsylvania avenue between Sd and Az
streets. which was then all there was of
the now huge government printing office.
William p Elliott, son of the astronomer,
designed and put into effect the plans for
the patent office building. President Jack
son should be given the credit for fighting
the provision through Congress"