Yerkes Observatory — Attraction in Williams Bay

A magnificent place. The Telescope that discovered the Big Bang. Recently flew out to Chicago to visit this observatory outside of Chicago. The building is magnificent the architectural detail is spectacular. There is a story in almost every column in the building. Here is the telescope that Edwin Hubble used, Carl Sagan used and Albert Einstein used. Who knows what future scientist might get their spark for science here.

Dan Koehler & Richard Dreiser could not have extended any greater hospitality then they did. I was supposed to observe through the scope that night but the rain had other ideas. Still they made it a wonderful visit. Thank you both!

Please University of Chicago make sure that this special place stays intact when it closes on October 1, 2018. This place can fire up the imaginations of young people and enrich many future generations.

But most of all this is a wonderful place to visit hurry up and do so before it closes. I hope the Yerkes Observatory finds its ways into the hands of a non profit that will share its telescope with the community and future generations - I hope it will never be turned into condos or dismantled.

I hope before the Observatory closes that someone could put a CMOS camera and take some images with the scope.

This should be a National Landmark. Wonderful special and...

My wife and I took a tour of Yerkes Observatory last week (July 2025), and we were both thrilled with the experience. Just driving to the Observatory and parking our vehicle we were in awe of the architecture and the huge domes that house 3 telescopes. Yerkes has the world’s largest refracting telescope that was built in the 1890s. Our tour guide, Charlie, was outstanding. This extremely informative but NOT boring tour takes you through the history of Yerkes, how it was built, why it was built and the wheeling and dealings that got it built.

We discovered all sorts of information about the building's architecture from the exterior of the building to ornate entryway and classrooms. We toured the room (it is the size of a school gymnasium) that houses the refractor telescope and saw how the entire floor raises up 22 feet and rotates to align with the rotation of the earth and the night sky. We also toured the old library and saw images of Einstein when he visited Yerkes. We also saw Carl Sagan’s signature on an “Astronomy 101” book he checked out when he was a student here. There was much more included in the tour, I don’t want to give more away so you can discover it for yourself.

If you love architecture, science, astronomy, famous scientists, and other cool things you MUST...

It is hard to imagine that just five years ago there were plans to tear this beautiful facility down and put up hundreds of condos! History would have been lost to greed and lack of respect for history and historical events. Over 180,000 glass photo plates of astronomical confirmations and discovers are housed there, some of which you can get a first hand look at when you take the behind the scenes hidden areas tour. My family and I enjoyed the hidden spaces tour guided by an enthusiastic member of the staff who explained the history of the building, it's criminal founder and all the astronomy that took place over the years all with a hillbilly humor! He was genuinely proud of the conservation of the observatory. We also experienced two telescopes, one the largest refractory over 12,000 pounds that you could move with one hand! Plus you experienced the opening of the dome, it's rotation and lifted by the largest elevator that brings you up to the telescope and then back down. You will have to walk a bit and be willing to climb spiral stair cases, bend under pipes and go in and out of AC to some warm cramped spaces, but it was all worth the time, about 2 hours and the money, a personalized tour. We would do it again and want to see...