History of the Observatory

The Morrison Observatory was built in 1875, through a joint effort by C.W. Pritchett, a Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Central College, and Berenice Morrison, the granddaughter of Captain William B. Swinney, a founder, curator, and Board chairman of Central College.  Professor Pritchett would later go on to found Pritchett School Institute (later Pritchett College) in 1866 in Glasgow, Missouri, where he served as headmaster until 1873.

Astronomy had long been an interest of Professor Pritchett.  He had studied at the Observatory of Harvard University during a sabbatical.  However, his previous attempts to establish a center for astronomical observations in Howard County, Missouri had been frustrated.  In 1874, he appealed to Berenice Morrison, who, "subject to the direction and control of her legal representative [and uncle] James O. Swinney," provided an endowment of $100,000 (roughly $2.2 million today) for the construction of the Observatory in Glasgow, Missouri.  After his 1873 resignation as headmaster of Pritchett School Institute, Pritchett served as the Observatory's astronomer until 1905.  Though it was not part of the Institute itself, the Institute's trustees managed the Observatory until 1922, when Pritchett College closed.  By that time, the Observatory was unused and had fallen into disrepair.

After the closing of Pritchett College, the Observatory's maintenance and endowment was under the purview of Glasgow Public Schools, until control of the Observatory's control and its funds were transferred to Central College (now Central Methodist University).  In 1928, Dr. Robert Ryland Fleet, chair of Central's Department of Mathematics and Astronomy, began arrangements to move the Observatory from Glasgow to Fayette, so that it could be used as a teaching facility for Central students.  The Observatory was moved in 1935 and rededicated in June of 1936.

Sources:

• Pritchett, Carr Waller.  Publications of the Morrison Observatory, Glasgow, Missouri, Number 1.  Lynn, Mass.  Press of Thos P. Nichols, 1887.
• Smith, T. Berry.  History of Central College.  Fayette, Mo.  Typescript prepared by the author, ca. 1929.  LD881 .F32 S64m
• Tucker, Frank C.  Central Methodist College: One Hundred and Ten Years.  Produced for the College.  Nashville, Tenn:  Parthenon Press, c. 1967.