A researcher works on an instrument for the telescope in the Yerkes workshop. Dan Plutchak photo.
A researcher works on an instrument for the telescope in the Yerkes workshop. Dan Plutchak photo.

WILLIAMS BAY — With the future of the Yerkes property still undecided, the debate reminded many of us of the years prior to 2005 when the facility was still a working observatory operated by the University of Chicago.

These photographs are from a shoot in May of 1992 for The Week, where we toured the workshop as astronomers worked on new tools for the 40-inch refractor telescope to peer even deeper into space.

The Observatory was dedicated on October 21, 1897, and at the time it was the home of the worlds largest refracting telescope. More history is HERE.

More photos below.

The entryway to Yerkes Observatory is it looked in May of 1992. Photograph by Dan Plutchak
The entryway to Yerkes Observatory is it looked in May of 1992. Photograph by Dan Plutchak
A bust of Charles Yerkes in the library. Photo by Dan Plutchak
A bust of Charles Yerkes in the library. Photo by Dan Plutchak
A negative of an eclipse adorns a window in the Yerkes Observatory. Dan Plutchak photo.
A negative of an eclipse adorns a window in the Yerkes Observatory. Dan Plutchak photo.
The library at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay. Dan Plutchak photo.
The library at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay. Dan Plutchak photo.
A researcher goes through a stack of books at the library of Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay.
A researcher goes through a stack of books at the library of Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay.
Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay. Dan Plutchak photo.
Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay. Dan Plutchak photo.


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By Dan Plutchak

Dan Plutchak launched Walworth County Community News in 2021. He is the former editor of The Week and Walworth County Sunday.