It was responsible for the care and calibration of clocks on campus including one at Carrie Tower[4] and another that rang the class bell at University Hall.

Amateur astronomers from the group continued to volunteer at Ladd and also participated in Brown University solar eclipse expeditions.

[9] The building was designed by the Providence-based firm of Stone, Carpenter & Willson in the Classical Revival style.

This telescope was used for scientific work such as lunar occultation timings to make a more precise determination of the orbit of the Moon.

Another telescope, a 3-inch (76 mm) meridian circle instrument, also made by Saegmuller, was used for observations related to timekeeping.

As a number of other observatories did in the late 19th century Ladd provided an accurate regional timekeeping service by transmitting a time signal via telegraph wire.

Timekeeping instruments used at Ladd include regulators designed by Robert Molyneux, Edward Howard, Hezekiah Conant, and Sigmund Riefler.

[18] The observatory sold these time signals to Rhode Island Electric Protective (RIEP) company, a local fire and burglar alarm firm.

[15] The signals from Ladd were redistributed to RIEP customers including "jewelers" (i.e. clockmakers) who repaired and calibrated watches.

[23] Time signals from Ladd were also used to synchronize the regulator that was used to ring the bell in the cupola of University Hall on the main campus.

The operator's station with transmitting and receiving equipment was located in the basement of Wilson Hall, a building midway between the two towers.

Primarily intended for engineering instruction and physics experimentation it was also used to receive the time signals from Arlington.

Calibration by Naval Observatory time signals from radio station WWV resumed after the war ended.

[1] In 1944 the Ladd time signals were used to test the Civil Defense air raid sirens at fire stations in the region at noon every day.

[29] Scientists affiliated with the observatory include Winslow Upton, Frank Washington Very, Frederick Slocum, Robert Horace Baker, and Charles H. Smiley.