The Calumet Astronomical Society operates the Thomas Conway Observatory, located just southeast of Lowell, Indiana. Like many good ideas, this one started small and just keeps growing. In 1998 and 1999, John Myers of the Bethlehem Steel Institute for Career Development held telescope making classes at its facility in Burns Harbor, Indiana. The Institute provides classes in useful and personal enrichment topics as a negotiated benefit of the United Steelworkers of America's labor contract with steel companies. For a number of years the Institute has had a program of constructing a building in their parking lot in Burns Harbor as a living laboratory for training in the construction crafts such as plumbing, electrical wiring, and steel framing construction. In early 2000, it was decided that due to the enthusiasm generated by a telescope building class, that the next building would be designed and built as an astronomical observatory. As with the previous two buildings that ICD had constructed, a donee for this building needed to be found. After contacting schools and parks throughout Porter County, Indiana Dunes State Park agreed to locate this observatory on the park's property.
The Calumet Astronomical Society had conducted a number of public outreach events at Dunes State Park during the late 1990s. Wendy Smith, park naturalist, contacted the Society to see if we would be interested in operating an observatory at the park. An agreement was negotiated, with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources agreeing to pay the costs of moving the building once completed and providing the foundation and utility hookups. DNR also agreed to pay for half the cost of a 16” LX200 telescope and an elevating pier for handicap use.
Chris Brownewell worked with John Myers of ICD and with Scott Virtue of Chester Construction of Valparaiso to design the building. The building dimensions, 18’ x 24’ were set by the size of the construction foundation in the parking lot at ICD. In many respects it is a “supersize” version of the Calumet Astronomical Society's Roesel Observatory, with an observing deck area of 14’ x 14’. The requirements of the class training at ICD dictated that it would have a restroom. In the original design, the internal layout the building has three rooms, and is unique among astronomical observatories in being designed as full Americans with Disabilities Act compliant. An external ramp designed to go around the building ends in a half door on the exterior of the raised observing deck. It was intended in design to allow a very high traffic flow of visitors into and out of the observatory. This entire observatory was designed to be able to get a maximum number of visitors through the telescope.
The emphasis on ADA compliancy drove a number of design features. Compliance set a minimum size on the restroom, and this in turn set the width of the restroom and control room. Several different telescopes were considered for this observatory's main instrument, and the Meade 16" LX200 was selected. This telescope gave the best balance between optical power and maximum convenience for users. The Friends of the Indiana Dunes conducted a fund raising campaign, raising $8,000 to purchase a Pier-Tech elevating pier for the telescope. This allows the telescope eyepiece to be set at a very comfortable height for all observers and allows the telescope to reach the horizon in the east, south, and west directions if desired - a very unusual feature in a roll off type observatory. Construction at Burns Harbor moved
forward, and by the end of 2001, the basic building was complete. By this time, however, the DNR had entered a funding crisis and was unable to complete their end of the deal. The building sat on its construction foundation at Burns Harbor until 2005, when an initiative by the Calumet Astronomical Society resulted in a deal to locate the observatory on a 40-acre parcel owned by the Lake County Parks south of Buckley Homestead County Park near Lowell, Indiana. A fund raising campaign spearheaded by Dr. Robert Cornwell provided sufficient funding to build the foundation, put in electrical power, and get the building moved to its site. The observatory was formally dedicated on Labor Day 2005 and is named after Thomas Conway, former head of the ICD program for the United Steelworkers of America. Much work has been done to Conway Observatory over the subsequent years, and in many ways it has exceeded its design potential. While the observatory was originally conceived as a single level building, the site terrain and funding obtained allowed a walk out basement to be included. The doors to this basement open out in to a 60' diameter concrete circle. This has proved very effective in promoting social amateur astronomy, with CAS members parking their vehicles around the edge of this circle and setting their telescopes up on the pad. The increase in height of the building led to challenges in the design of the handicap access ramps, and these were designed by CAS member Thomas Pappalardo. Lumber for their construction was donated by Tri-Creek Lumber of Lowell, Indiana, and construction was done entirely by CAS volunteers. In February 2006, a tornado struck the uncompleted observatory and blew off the roof. A new roof was designed and built by CAS volunteers.
The new roof utlizes a welded steel frame and welded steel tracks that provide positive retention for the roof. A unique feature is the inclusion of scissor trusses over the telescope level, allowing much easier access for working while the roof is closed. During the initial stages of designing the building, it was decided that the roof would be motorized, and CAS members raised over $1,200 in 2000 to purchase the components for this feature. These were installed in 2007. The roof uses a bidirectional winch with a one horsepower three phase 220VAC motor controller by an AC frequency drive. Fail-safes are built into the roof system to prevent operation when there is potential for hitting the telescope. The roof operates very safely and smoothly from an operator station located at the bottom of the telescope level stairwell.
The basement area of the observatory was finished out in December 2009, and the CAS' first winter public event was held there in January 2010. A facility for astrophotography training, the Mildred Hunter Astrophotography Lab was completed in May 2011.
During the course of his fund raising activities, Dr. Cornwell got Purdue Calumet University involved with the site and its Astronomy department was able to obtain a National Science Foundation Grant to build the Northern Indiana Robotic Observatory on the same site as Conway. This 40-acre site is now officially a joint venture of the Lake County Parks, Calumet Astronomical Society, and Purdue Calumet University and has been named The Calumet Astronomy Center. The NIRO Observatory was officially dedicated in September 2010 and is now operational. Public programs are held monthly at Conway Observatory. See the Home page for the schedule.
Plan for the future include needed renovations and upgrading the current main telescope and building on site an alternative energy technology demonstrator that will provide power for Conway Observatory using solar and wind technologies. A secured pad has been constructed to house a mobile observatory that may be used for additional public outreach and onsite observing.
There is a lot of room on this site for other educational institutions and other amateur astronomy organizations to locate additional observatories here.