A 12.25 inch Clark Refractor was installed in a dome that Dr. Pritchett modeled after the Harvard College Observatory.

In 1876, a 6-inch Meridian Telescope built by Troughton & Simms of London was installed and the Observatory began selling the time to the Chicago & Alton Railroad and various Time Balls in St. Louis and Kansas City.

[2] In 1961 the Central Missouri Amateur Astronomers built a 12-inch reflecting telescope which they donated to the observatory.

It is housed in a building about 100 feet northwest of the Clark refractor in a "Roll off" observatory.

In 2024 a new mount, CCD camera and full set of photometric filters was added to upgrade the 10" telescope.