McDonald Observatory of the University of Texas

McDonald's will was contested, and only after long legal fights did the university receive its share for an observatory. With no astronomers of its own, the university signed a thirty-year agreement with the University of Chicago in 1932: Texas paid for the telescope and Chicago supplied the staff. Warner and Swasey of Cleveland built the instrument and its sixty-two-foot concrete and steel foundation on solid rock. Violet Locke McIvor gave most of the site from her grandfather G. S. Locke's ranch, and the Fowlkes estate added land for 400 acres.

What the plaque says

McDonald Observatory of the University of Texas Original unit in complex forming one of the great observatory centers of the world. Built in the 1930s under terms of legacy from William Johnson McDonald (1844-1926), a Paris (Texas) banker interested in the stars. A well-educated man, McDonald lived frugally. As a hobby, he read science books and viewed planets through a small telescope. His will granted to the University of Texas $800,000: "to build an observatory and promote the study of astronomy." This site was selected because of its high ratio of clear nights, its 6,800-foot altitude, and its quite low latitude that permits observation of southern skies. The observatory was operated for its first 25 years mainly by astronomers from the University of Chicago, more recently primarily from the University of Texas. Until 1948, its 82-inch telescope was second largest in the world. Its fine work and site have resulted in the addition of other telescopes including a 107-inch instrument sponsored jointly by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the University of Texas. Discoveries made here have included interstellar polarization and the satellites of several planets. (1968)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• McDonald Observatory — steps away
  The University of Texas observatory on Mount Locke, founded with a Paris, Texas banker's fortune, with star parties three nights a week under some of the darkest skies in the country.
• Davis Mountains State Park & Indian Lodge — 7.4 mi
  A 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps park above Fort Davis, with the CCC's Skyline Drive, the white adobe Indian Lodge and a trail down to the old fort.
• Fort Davis National Historic Site — 9.1 mi
  A frontier post of 1854 to 1891 on the San Antonio-El Paso Road, garrisoned after the Civil War by Black regiments, with its buildings restored to their 1880 look.
• Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens — 14 mi
  The Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute's grounds south of Fort Davis, with an 18-acre botanical garden, a cactus museum and trails into the desert foothills.

More markers nearby

• Fort Davis — 9.3 mi
• Old Fort Davis C. S. A. — 9.5 mi
• Confederate President Jefferson Davis — 9.5 mi
• Hotel Limpia — 9.5 mi