Today, the observatory is primarily used for public outreach, welcoming over two thousand visitors per year with open houses on clear Friday nights.

Soon after, in 1919, Civil Engineering Professor Irving Porter Church acquired two glass blanks from the Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin.

Professor Church spearheaded a campaign to raise money from civil engineering alumni to build the telescope and equatorial mounting.

It was officially dedicated on June 15, 1923 as the “Irving Porter Church Memorial Telescope.” Additionally, the observatory was built with a classroom, transit room (with a clamshell roof), and an office.

A large backlit display case containing numerous astronomical slides was featured (and remains today) in the lobby of the building.

[3] The observatory also contains several transit telescopes, zenith scopes, and other antique astronomical instruments used by Civil Engineers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for geodesy and timekeeping.