The Ladd Observatory

The Ladd Observatory was opened in 1891 with donations from Rhode Island Governor Herbert W. Ladd. Its first director was Brown University Professor of Astronomy Winslow Upton.



The Astronomy program hardly existed at Brown University prior to Upton's influence. He built it with money and support gained via lofty speeches, war-rally cries, of intellectual freedom and academic exploration. It was at Upton's urging that the observatory was built, it was under his watch that the intellectual architecture of the program was constructed, and it was via his remarkably heavy courseload (in not only Astronomy, but Physics and Mathematics) that the next generations of building and program conservators were created.

Winslow Upton was born on the night of a Witch's Mass, October 12, 1853, in Salem, Massachusetts. His mother, Sarah Upton (nee Ropes) was granddaughter of Abigail Faulkner, who, because of pregnancy at the time of her conviction of witchcraft, was allowed a reprieve to hanging until after she had given birth.

Upton is said to have died in January of 1915, but no body was ever found.

Small mammals frequently found on the grounds with their throats cut, often also with organs missing. Mysterious lights. Rank smells. No hard proof of supernatural phenomena.

Below, the Ladd Observatory in daylight.