Cincinnati observatory to learn how it became the first public observatory in the western hemisphere. John this is the Cincinnati Observatory Center, situated in the city of cincinnati, approximately six miles east of downtown cincinnati. We call ourselves the birthplace of american astronomy. The founder of the observatory, ormsby mcknight mitchell, was essentially what we call the call sagan of the day. He was the popularizer of astronomy at that particular period. The first observatory of significance in the country and definitely the first public observatory at that time. He was a west point graduate and he was teaching at the Cincinnati College and in 1842 there was a group in town, the society for the promotion of useful knowledge. They offered to mitchell an opportunity to lecture the citizens. He started his lecture in this lecture hall, overflowed that, so they moved it to a chapel that seated 1200 people and does they ended the lecture, they said, why couldnt we, the citizens of cincinnati, join the glove of the country and start the First National observatory . Before John Quincy Adams was president , he was the countrys first minister, or today we were probably say ambassador, to alexander i, bizarro russia had aar of russia, who telescope. Will look intoms the sky and recorded in his tyree. Professionaler 30 observatories in russia and europe combined. In america, we had nothing during that period. America to step up in science and he was the promoter of that. Movement wasghts quite strong back then and they did not want to give money or power to be federal government to build what he called his lighthouses in the sky. They mocked him for it, but eventually they did bilby naval observatory, and build the spikeobservatory, and to adams, it was to be called a and toor than of spiked at us it was to be called a depot rather than an astronomy. And it was said that the astronomers could not do astronomy. They would just calibrate for the navy ships. Challengey adams congress and the observatory was founded in 1842, and by the time we got the telescope from europe, it was 1845 for the online in mt. Adams in cincinnati. Original intention of building the observatory is it would be a private institution for members who would pay 25 a share to become members. Or three months salary for a laborer back then. Mitchell acquired the agreement of 30s cincinnati ands to pray that. That was quite impressive, private citizens willing to fund 12 we today call a public institution. The observatory was founded in 1842, based on mitchell for a lecture, and mitchell was also responsible for designing and building the observatory. They selected east of downtown, and they decided to invite then expresident John Quincy Adams, in the town where he was now in the house of representatives. 76 years old. Not in good health. His family did not want him to come to town. He wrote a letter, said im on my way. If im delayed, its not my fault. It took him two weeks to get to town. The stage coach to cincinnati, and he arrived here in 1843 for the laying of the cornerstone. While he was extremely delighted, he had a twohour oration dedication speech prepared. At the end of the lecture, the comingid, thank you for to town. In your honor, we will rename the hill to mount adams, as it is named today. That john quincy in novembers 1843. Right now we are in the main observatory. This is where the original telescope that mitchell acquired was put from 1870s until my show for. They got a newer, better telescope. So, the astronomers would hire a teenager to assist them in doing the work. The teenager would have three jobs. The first job would be coming over at opening up the shutter and to do that, you pull on a pulley like this, and the shutters open so you can see the nice guy. Teenager hadb the was add energy to the telescope to make it work. No electricity. Its a mechanical system. Works like a grandfathers clock. You crank it up, connecticut gears of theke the clock moved. Apply that to a telescope. Inside there is a weight. 400poundd to be a block of steel. The teenager would have to crank up the weight, and to crank up the weight, you grab this handle right here and turned the weight. The weight was off the ground. You are taking over, dropping the weight very slowly. Eugene not think of it is falling. Thats kinetic energy. That transfers energy up to be clock works of the telescope. You can see the governor spending at the top, governing the speed of the telescope very, very accurately and by going through various gears, small gears on the side are turning very slowly. Then the energy or to work or que is transferred and then the big years turn and the main axle of the telescope turns in that axle is parallel to the first axis of rotation. Eventually, energy turns the telescope and the telescope moves that the rapid rate of one revolution per day in the opposite direction the earth is rotating, so the significance of that, were viewpoints the lens , thee telescope at telescope will track that object all night long, as long as the weight is falling, providing entry. Once the weight is the bottom, everything stops area everything stops. The Current Mission of the observatory is a notforprofit organization. Its education. We reach out to the schools. They bring in School Children we had about 25,000 visitors last year. Thursday, friday night we open up the observatory for public viewing. We are extending that to more and more weekends. Were trying to excite the public to the thrills of looking at celestial objects to a large telescope. The most rewarding aspect of that is to be next to the telescope and here repeated over and over again wow. Yes, they have seen pictures in books, but they have never seen it in real time with their eyes. It is awesome. All weekend long, American History tv is featuring cincinnati, the childhood home of president ulysses s. Grant and William Howard taft. Together with our cable partners, cspan cities tour staff visited many sites exporting the citys rich history. Learn more about cincinnati, ohio all weekend here on American History tv. Union terminal was. Uilt in 1972 a lot of the stations in cincinnati were lined stops. You would come in from baltimore or ohio and you would be connecting with the southern railway. It would make it very difficult for people not familiar with cincinnati to get from one train station to another. Starting as early as 1905, there have been various proposals to replace them with a single station, but all seven railroads could never be made to agree on building a new station or location. Businessmen are around cincinnati wanted a new train station, so ultimately it was a group of Business Leaders here in cincinnati that brought the railroad together and raised 3 million to make this project happened. Terminal isnion located in the queens gate neighborhood. This was selected in the 1920s as the location of the terminal based on the 1925 master plan, and the fact that there was already a Large Railroad and a lot of rail tracks. It was an easier site as opposed to downtown, were getting the necessary infrastructure in place would have been very difficult. In 1929 andround building began in 1923. It only took a few years to facility. Very large it was originally a beauxarts style. Lassical the architect had a lot of experience in that style. That theympany felt wanted cincinnati to have a modern station, a modern architectural style, because cincinnati had been a place to avoid previously. The idea was to have the modern, very uptodate railroad station that would give them sort of an advertising piece. So, they decided to move it to the art deco side style. Paul philip craig was the consultant for the company and a fellow at a company held three update the building in reupdate the building and art deco. The Union Terminal building is located at the end of a quartermile long drive in what used to be lincoln park in the west end. As you come up the drive, it ofes slowly of to the front the building. There are two wings on either half dome. Ery large the wings are where people would originally enter the building. Within an jerk from the wing into the main rotunda where they would be greeted by an area that would contain ticket counters, food services, and other amenities for them. The Union Terminal halftone is the largest in the western hemisphere. At the time it was built, it was the largest in the world. If it were a fulltime, it would be 40 feet wider than the u. S. Capitol. When you talk when you walk unionincinnati into the terminal, you are greeted by murals, on the left featuring a history of the United States and on the right featuring the history of cincinnati. Gentleman and the military uniform from the early settlement period. General Arthur Sinclair was one of the commanders of what was the northwest territory. He is responsible for changing the name to cincinnati in honor ,f the society of cincinnatus which was an early military organization. The back of the mural in silver highlights are different forms of transportation. In the cincinnati mural, you see waterent kinds of transportation. In the u. S. Mural, you see different types of land transportation. And then you see what might be the future of transportation, airplanes and airships. The heyday of the terminal was the 1940s. Previously, through the 1930s, it had not seen much use. The depression hit rail travel very hard, as had the emergence of the automobile. During world war ii, it was a major transportation hub for troops moving from coast to coast. A lot of groups coming through Union Terminal was a memorable experience that struck with them stuck with them for the rest of their lives. The space they primarily remember is the rotunda space with the wide arch and murals. It is very much a staggering space. This was quite an experience for them on their way to europe. We do have a lot of veterans that come back through human Union Terminal to vividly remember their time here. There was a uso in the Union Terminal. It was one of the First Transit in 1941. O open before the u. S. Joined the war. Place toen and women a relax, write letters. If they had relatives visiting, there was a place for infants, as well as a bunk room for them to grab a little sleepover they had to catch a train. The Union Terminal at its fair share of famous people who have come through. There have been several president s. My favorite story is when harry truman came through. He went to buy a paper and the woman selling did not recognize him, so he actually signed the dollar he bought the paper with, hoping that he would jog her memory. There was a steady decline after world war ii. There were many factors that led to this. The increasing use of the automobile, faster air travel across the country made long trips on train fairly unnecessary. So, by the not late 1950s, there is already talk about leaving the Union Terminal and adapting it to new uses because of severely declining real usage. 1971. Took over in the station was far larger than anything. They only had to planes trains coming through per day. Union terminal remained empty for the next several years. Is home to terminal the union center. Its also an important hub for activity. It is home to lots of programs for different groups and organizations that come in. We host very different events connected to different museums. A living history of them, a lot of schools come here. Its a very important part of history. Is usually included as one of those buildings everybody recognizes. It is very much the visible face of the city. All weekend, American History tv is featuring cincinnati, ohio. The Cincinnati Observatory Center known as the earth place of the birthplace of american astronomy has one of the oldest working telescopes. Staff citys tourist recently visited many sites showcasing the citys rich history. About cincinnati all weekend here on American History tv. Welcome to treasures of our military past. This is an exhibit that was designed and installed by the museum. Ti history we have a civil war naval gun. There is a radio from world war ii, as well as the northern bomb site, one of the most highly worldecrets of the second war. What greets you as you walk through the door, probably without doubt, our most significant artifact in the collection. This is never been seen before. His is the whole broadside this is one of the original copies of the declaration of independence. It was printed july 9, 1776. It is an extremely valuable document. It is one of four, i believe, known to exist. This was brought to cincinnati richard, who settled in cincinnati, was a meatpacker. It was donated to the Historical Society in the late 19th century by his family. And like i say, it it has never been seen before. It was one of the copies made to distribute the word about the declaration of independence to the commoners. There was not the communications we had today. Much of it was done through broadside newspapers and things like that. This would have been one that was posted. This copy is rare because they just did not know just did not survive. But many pieces, they were not seen as Historical Documents at the time. Were are very fortunate that this one survived. This is even though it does not look like much, cincinnati was established in 1788. In 1789, 4 washington was built. It was under the command of general harmer of the United States army. There is a new barracks built in newport kentucky. So, the port was no longer excuse me, 1809, they took the four part, really so cincinnati could explain could expand. No one couldyears, remember where the fort wise. The city had grown over the top of the fort. Then in 1953, they were doing and excavation downtown for the western Southern Insurance Company parking garage. They started dredging all of these logs. Is one of the logs that was found. We can tell it was used in a fort. You can see the sections that have tool marks on it you read we believe that it is part of the powder magazine of Fort Washington, given where it was found. Four washington was an important onmand center, command post the western frontier. Its actually the base of operations for not only harmer, but also mad Anthony Wayne when he lost campaigns indians. He shawnee required. Not the native americans had been settled in cincinnati was established. Soldierse wellknown established at Fort Washington was a young officer by the name of William Harry handers William Henry harrison become the president of the united 1840. In this is another very significant document from our collection. Amnestyan original proclamation that was signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. The United States sanitary commission, actually a forerunner of the red cross and the uso, would hold sanitary irs and sell things off to support the troops. They approached abram lincoln. They wanted to sell the original copy of the amnesty proclamation. Very good shape. I believe the original copy was already in the national archives. So, lincoln sat down and hand wrote another copy so they could auction that off and this is that very copy. Statemente opening summarizes what the document is about. Whereas and by the constitution of the United States that the powerent shall have the to forgive to give reprieves for acts against the United States. It was one of lincolns many attempts to offer the south the way to come back into the union. That is what this document really represents. Offering to the states and amnesty for anyone in rebellion against the United States. Commemorates general Williams Haynes general William Haynes lydall. He was born to a prominent family. Self,ad close ties to the actually. He was a lawyer. He was in the militia. I think if the general were here today he would tell you first and foremost, he was a soldier. He was very active in the militia. Action, but he came back to cincinnati. He took commander of the tent of ohio volunteer infantry, which was an irish unit, and lytle commanded them until 1863. In 1863, he took over another command and shortly thereafter, he was killed at the battle of chickamauga. The battle of chickamauga was georgia, chickamauga, waseptember 1863, and lytle actually they thought that there had been a breach in the line and he was writing he was riding out with his troops herein he was shot multiple times. He was taken off of his horse and he died shortly after that. Was really a favorite, i think because of his notoriety here in town. And they really had a spree to corps. Espirit d all of his belongings word collected and taken back to his family. An excellent connection collection. It consisted of his coat, his boots, all of his personal effects. We often say we have everything related to the general from his liquorush to his cabinet. That is all here. It was eventually inherited by his niece and then it was donated to the Historical Society in a 37. The presentation metal given to the presentation medal given to the general by his staff, they gave him his 10th presentation medal on august 9. Lytle got up and gave an impromptu 45minute address. Its a beautiful medal. It is solid gold. It has an emerald in the center. On the back, to the colonel from his staff. Is the world war i uniform of lieutenant Ralph Wickham of the United States marine corps. Ralph wickham joined the united in 1917