| Additional Information: | 2019 City of New Berlin survey recommendation write-up:
The 3.1-acre observatory grounds include a total of twelve structures, nine of which are observatories. The largest structure on the premises is the Armfield Observatory, which is comprised of a square, vinyl-sheathed frame structure topped with a dome. Extending from the observatory proper are restrooms that were added in 1965, as well as the Quonset lecture hall which was added to the grounds in 1955. The next largest structure is the Buckstaff Observatory (Ca. 1951), a square concrete block structure topped with a dome. Two additional domed observatories are located on the grounds, while the remaining vinyl-sheathed, frame structures are small, gabled structures with either sliding or flip-top roofs.
The Milwaukee Astronomical Society (MAS) built its first observatory at this location in 1937-38. Formed in September 1932, the MAS was established with eighteen charter members and observing sessions were held in the backyard of Luverne Armfield’s home at 2046 S. 59th Street in West Allis. With a membership of 130 by the following year (and a crowded back yard), plans began to form to build an observatory outside of the city. But with little money, and in the midst of the Great Depression, those plans would need to wait. In the meantime, as of 1934, the group, which incorporated as a non-profit organization, was producing its own publication—the “MAS Bulletin,” with a circulation of about 100. This continued until December 1935, when the group discontinued it to instead publish Amateur Astronomy, a publication of the American Amateur Astronomical Association (AAAA) which originally included a total of seven groups located in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Wisconsin (the latter including groups in both Madison and Milwaukee; the AAAA would expand to include a total of fifteen societies). Although 1.1 acre of land was gifted to the organization in 1934 by one of its members--Prof. M.J.W. Phillips--a frame structure (the Armfield Observatory or A-Dome), 16 feet square and 13 feet high, was not built until 1937 and a telescope installed the following year. Dedication occurred on 18 June 1938, with the primary address being given by Charles Hetzer of the Yerkes Observatory.
By the end of 1939, a former City of Milwaukee voting booth building was loaned by the Milwaukee Public Museum to the MAS and it was moved to the grounds for use as an office and sleeping quarters and dubbed the clubhouse/monastery (no longer extant). In 1941, a former Milwaukee substation building was donated to the group and it was reassembled on the grounds and used as a tool shed (no longer extant). Although plans for a new double-domed observatory on expanded grounds were made in 1947-48, it did not come to fruition. Instead, a single-domed, cinder block structure (the Buckstaff Observatory or B-Dome) was largely completed in 1951 but was not functioning until nearly 1960.
In 1953, another rollaway building (the original C-Shed; no longer extant) was erected on the grounds and, two years later, a Quonset hut was obtained from the City of Milwaukee (again loaned through the Milwaukee Public Museum) and attached to the north end of the A-Dome. In 1957, the MAS started the Saturday night open house program for members, which continues to date, from May to October. The following year saw the renovation of the clubhouse/monastery, to include a flat roof and a hinged cover and was, thereafter, known as the satellite shed. In 1958, the newsletter that had been discontinued twenty years earlier, was revived and called The Double Dome. Five years later, two additional acres were gifted by the Phillips family and in 1964, 800 red pine trees were planted along the perimeter of the property. In 1965, restrooms and a darkroom (both heated) were added to the Armfield Observatory.
Construction of the concrete block Z dome began in 1980 and was fully completed in 1983. The remaining structures were built as follows: Albrecht Observatory (aka, the C-Shed; 1990s); D-Shed (2000); Tangney Observatory (2000s); Zit Observatory (2002); Toeller Observatory (2000s; updated in 2015); and the Solar Observatory (2016). |
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| Bibliographic References: | Historical & Architectural Resources Survey, City of New Berlin, Waukesha County, Wisconsin prepared by tes | Historical Consulting, LLC, 2019.
Footnotes for 2019 City of New Berlin survey information provided below:
Available building permits for the property cite the construction of a $4,000 kitchen and toilet addition to the observatory (permit dated 24 August 1964), as well as document the move of the steel Quonset building to the grounds in 1955 (permit dated 18 May 1955).
“Milwaukee New Notes,” Amateur Astronomy, Vol. 2, No. 1 (January 1936), 9; Edward A. Halbach, “The Milwaukee Astronomical Society Observatory,” Amateur Astronomy, vol. 4, No. 6 (June-July 1938), 62; Preceding construction of the 1937-38 observatory, member A.C. Tabbatt donated his telescope and rollaway shelter, which was moved to the New Berlin grounds in July 1937 (known today as the D-Shed), “History of the Milwaukee Astronomical Society,” Available online at http://milwaukeeastro.org/history/MAS_History.asp, Accessed July 2019.
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