DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, picture a Paris, Texas banker (not Paris, France, mind you, Paris, Texas), a man named William Johnson McDonald, born in 1844, gone in 1926. By all accounts he lived frugally.
No grand mansion, no lavish spending. What he did spend, though, was time. Time reading science books.
Time peering at planets through a small telescope, just a man and the night sky, doing it purely for the love of it. A hobby, the marker calls it. And here's where the story turns.
When McDonald died, he left behind a will. And that will granted to the University of Texas eight hundred thousand dollars, earmarked, in his own words, 'to build an observatory and promote the study of astronomy.' Eight hundred thousand dollars. From a man who lived frugally.
From a banker who read science books for fun. Now they had to find the right place to put it. And they chose here, up in the Davis Mountains of Jeff Davis County.
Why here? Three reasons, and they're good ones. First, a high ratio of clear nights.
Second, an altitude of sixty-eight hundred feet. And third, this one's easy to overlook, a low enough latitude that you can actually see the southern skies that other observatories can't reach. So in the 1930s, they built it.
The original unit of what would grow into one of the great observatory centers of the world. For its first twenty-five years, the observatory was operated mainly by astronomers from the University of Chicago, before the University of Texas eventually took the wheel more directly. And right up until 1948, its eighty-two-inch telescope was the second largest in the world.
Second largest. In the whole world. That's not a small thing for a legacy that started with a quiet banker squinting at planets from Texas.
The work done here proved so fine, and the site so exceptional, that other telescopes followed. Including a hundred-and-seven-inch instrument, sponsored jointly by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the University of Texas. Discoveries made here include interstellar polarization and the satellites of several planets.
William Johnson McDonald never saw any of that. But he pointed the money at the sky, and the sky answered back. That's the kind of hobby that outlasts a man.
What the marker says
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.