Warner Observatory in Rochester, New York, opened in 1882 through Hulbert Harrington Warner’s support of astronomer Lewis Swift. Its major instrument, a 16-inch Alvan Clark and Sons refracting telescope, ranked among the largest in the United States at the time, and Swift used it to study comets and nebulae. The observatory also broke new ground by allowing paying visitors to attend on regular evenings, an early example of public astronomy. Its active life was short: after Warner’s 1893 bankruptcy and amid worsening city conditions for observation, the telescope was moved to California. The building later served other purposes before its demolition in 1931.

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Rochester, New York · USA