History of the Milwaukee Astronomical Society

 

1978-1981 - Planning, Move the Observatory, Build On Site, Build a Dome

 

1978

The brochure for the grand move (see below) is printed. The cost is $1,748 for 2500 copies.

Click/tap here or on either of the images (above or left) to see the full 8 page brochure for the fundraising campaign.

As you can see the needed funds were outrageously high so there was little chance that they could raise even a fraction of the amount needed.

Soon after it is determined that any Holy Hill site is a dead issue. Besides the Albrecht offer of one acre, he had been in talks with officials of the Holy Hill Basilica for a larger plot of land that they could possibly donate. In May, Albrecht recapped events since Sept. '75 when he offered 1 acre of land to the MAS as a site for the proposed 26", until the present. He suggested that if a move is not made soon, the new site plan should be dropped and either find another site or build it on the observatory grounds. He advised that money and effort be best directed to construction on the present site and not to move, and requested the MAS to relieve him of the original offer of one acre. He stated the following reasons for requesting to be relieved of his land offer:

1. At this time he does not see that the MAS has the personnel necessary to accomplish the move of the present facilities (even before building the 26") to the new site.
2. Originally a move was planned because of the encroachment of the City of New Berlin on the present facilities. At present the new site is being subdivided rapidly and soon will be as light polluted as the present site.
3. Society efforts should not be divided between building the 26" and moving present facilities, but should be concentrated on building only.
4. The cash that the MAS has thus far accumulated would be used up in just the acquiring land leaving nothing to begin construction with. Richard Berry said that in a decade the proposed site would be as bright as the present site.
5. A road would be needed to access the site which would be another $20,000.
6. Member apathy.

The Board decided to relieve Albrecht of his land offer.

In July, a new course of action is proposed for the 26" project. An observatory building with dimensions of 24 X 24 feet and 10 feet tall will be constructed. The size is needed to accommodate the 22 foot Delco dome. In August, the Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC) asks to proceed with the planning for construction of the 24X24 building. The cost is estimated to be $6,000 to include the architect's fee but no dome. In September, the LRPC after consideration, recommends that the MAS proceed with plans for building a structure on the present site and initiate fund raising. Mr. John Jach, an architect and member, showed sketches of the proposed building which will cost $6,000 without the dome.

In December, Jim Toeller (MAS Treasurer) reports the 26" fund has already reached $10,000 and $2,000 has already been spent. In the new Telescope Making magazine, MAS member Richard Berry who is the editor would like to present an article with Ray Zit's name. It would present the MAS as a productive and successful amateur group which has been in operation for over 40 years. The Board approved.

Above: the featured article in the Winter 1978 issue of Telescope Making magazine. It was entitled "Amateur Astronomy in Milwaukee - Group Maintains Observatory for 40 Years" and though written by Richard Berry, credit is given to Observatory Director Ray Zit. Note: The pages shown are just for basic display. Due to copyright, they have been reduced to a size and resolution where they cannot be read. If you are a member of the MAS, we own several copies of this and it is available for viewing at our observatory.

Also in December, Bill Albrecht is voted a Founder Member. Bill and Anne have already purchased a house on the Big Island of Hawaii. John Jach meets with the New Berlin town board with an eye to get building permits. Plans for groundbreaking will be set for next spring.

 

1979

In January, Bill Albrecht officially announces his retirement.

In February, the project fund reaches $11,000. The basic building plan is approved by New Berlin with the stipulation that the main entrance be widened and blacktopped, something that's been needed for years. The plan is to break ground by spring with the building minus the dome completed by fall.

In April, Bill Collins begins grinding the mirror for the 26".

In May, because of the perception that there is not enough expertise in construction in the club, the Board decides that the only course of action is to put out bids to use most of the money raised so far to have it built. Our architect, John Jach has estimated the cost to be $6,000. By the end of the month he has the plans finalized so can be submitted to the City of New Berlin sometime in June.

At the June Board meeting, they announce that they have received several bids for the 26" building. James Luterbach - $11,500, C Bundy - $11,581, Zielinski Builders - $17,680, Tezlaff Masonry - $7,085. The low bid, however, is just for the masonry. Therefore, there is not enough money to execute this option. The project has died. However, it will turn out the project is only "mostly dead".

At the July Board meeting they discuss the situation and really have no immediate options because of the club's lack of any construction expertise. The only option is to put the project on hold indefinitely. However, Gerry Samolyk and John Asztalos are there at the meeting after doing a full day of carpentry work. They take particular exception when a Board member announces, "And we have no one who can do carpentry!" Gerry who does construction as his full time job as he's working his way through college then offers to take on the project.

Construction cannot start until the following spring because the building permits have not yet been approved.

 

1980

January We finally receive the 26" building permits from New Berlin. The building must be started within 4 months and completed within 18 after the receipt of the permit. Construction will begin in the spring. Gerry Samolyk serves as the general contractor.

March Harvey Lindemann is made a Founder Member of the MAS.

Historian Note: We have a lot of detail of the construction because of the participation of a handful of members who have given their first-hand accounts, two of those (John Aztalos and Jim Fanson) took many pictures, and because of decent entries made in the club log book. Much of the detail presented here are word for word entries from the Observatory Log Book.

April Ceremonial ground breaking occurred on Astronomy Day, April 26.

Footing trenching: We accept a $300 bid from Chuck Christopher. The bid includes trenching for the booting, digging flat for the slab, and trenching for the pier. Does not include backfill.

We are given the word that we will be able to get the Delco dome for the 26" building!

Ray Zit is appointed for another 3-year term as Observatory Director.

May 3 Samolyk: Surveyed 26" site and staked for digging the footings.

May 13 Actual ground breaking. Footings dug.

May 17 Samolyk, Hanson, Fanson, Asztalos, Hesseltine: Formed footings for 26". They had to manually dig out the east wall since rain made it collapse a day or two earlier.

May 18 Samolyk: Finished forms.

May 19 Samolyk: Rebar. Hanson: At 3:15, the Inspector came and spent less than a minute, barely looking at things. He then says it looks good and signs and then hands me the green tag okaying the forms.

May 20 Samolyk, Asztalos, Fanson, Hanson, Hesseltine: Poured footings with no problems.

Pouring the concrete for the pier footing. Chris Hesseltine with Jim Fanson behind him.

The next phase of the project is laying the cinder blocks. Because of the skill needed, Samolyk hired professional masons he personally knew from his construction job to do the actual laying.Members functioned as the laborers which entails building the scaffolding, mixing the "mud" (i.e., the cement), and delivering the cinder blocks and mud to the masons. The block will be laid over 4 Saturdays. At least 200 pictures were taken at this phase of construction and only a handful are displayed here. Click/tap here to see more of the the pictures.

May 26 Samolyk, Asztalos, Hanson, Fanson, Ganiere: Foundation for 26" - Block is laid to ground level.

May 27 Asztalos: Building inspector came out and OK'd foundation.

May 30 Samolyk: Dropped off I-beams.

Jun 3 Samolyk: Rocks in pier for 26".

Jun 4 Hanson: 11:00 & 12:00 - 2 deliveries of block.

Jun 7 Samolyk, Hanson, Fanson, Asztalos, Hesseltine, Harris, Zit: Laying block. The day started with a very intense thunderstorm that could have canceled the planned day. Jim Fanson walked around with his light meter in hand and noted how dark it had become at the height of the storm. Fortunately the storm was short and work could continue that day. By the end of the day the walls were up to about 5 feet.

Jun 14 Samolyk, Asztalos, Hanson, Fanson, Ganiere, Hesseltine: Block work, up to about 8 feet above ground level. Third week of block laying.

Jun 18 Samolyk: Work on 26" pier. Putting in fill for the pier. The fill for the pier are rocks and cinder block fragments.

Building Construction Work Parties

Construction of the new observatory throughout 1980 was mostly done with a core group of six individuals, and, of course, lead by Gerry Samolyk. It then included John Asztalos, Jim Fanson, Chris Hesseltine, Gene Hanson, and Brian Ganiere. After a full day of work the group would meet up at Barbiere's Italian Inn at 58th and Bluemound for pizza.

Jun 21 Samolyk, Hanson, Asztalos, Fanson, Ganiere, Hesseltine: Finish block for 26" building.

Last Block - Gene Hanson's Note: The picture at the right was taken by John Asztalos and shows the last block of the project before it's laid. Before participating in this project I had never witnessed masons working up close. I knew they must have a lot of skill, but I couldn't appreciate how much. I would naturally assume they would start at a corner and work their way across. Which they did, but there was another mason who was starting at the opposite corner and they would work their way to the middle. If anyone else would do this it would be a comedy as that remaining block space would either be too short or two long. But when they met the spacing was for all intents and purposes perfect and that last block just fit. And amazingly they never used a tape measure! They simply had their 4-foot level. The cinder blocks used in this project were 12" X 8", but 3/8" shorter for the addition of the mortar.

The Crew. From left: Gerry Samolyk, Brian Ganiere, Gene Hanson, John Asztalos, Jim Fanson, Chris Hesseltine, Photo taken after the first two I-Beams were manually lifted into their positions.

The pier for the 26" telescope was a cinder block framed post that would be filled. Concrete would might be the logical fill, but that would be unnecessarily expensive. Instead they used non-compressible fill, a combination of rocks, gravel, and broken cinder blocks. But the top of the pier would be solid concrete.

Jun 28 The first two of the four I-Beams were lifted onto the pilasters, about 14 feet from the ground. This will be one of the most dangerous jobs of the entire project. The sensible course would have been to rent a crane to lift the beams as they were incredibly heavy, but the cost would be prohibitive since there was very little money for the project in the first place. Gerry Samolyk hatched a plan to use scaffolding and cinder blocks so a minimum of 4 people would lift the beam the height of one cinder block. This would continue for a couple of blocks until the next rung of the boards could be inserted.

Jun 29 We receive an excellent progress report about obtaining the dome for 26" from Delco. A new roof for the Delco building is being designed and Delco will need an estimate of the value of the dome for tax purposes. We will get that estimate from Ash Dome.

Jul 1 Samolyk, Asztalos, Hanson: Installed third I-Beam. Filled 2 pilasters.

Jul 15 Samolyk, Asztalos, Hesseltine: Installed the last I-Beam.

Jul 16 Samolyk, Hanson, Asztalos, Hesseltine: Finished pilasters.

Aug 2 Samolyk, Asztalos, Hanson: Level floor in 26", Tuck point joints.

Aug 17 Samolyk: Scrape "B" building. Hanson: Tuck point the 26" building.

Aug 22 Delco was sent a quote on their dome of about $22,000 using figures from Ash Dome. Driveway widening will take place when the machine is here for backfill. Ray Zit cannot continue as Observatory Director as his job is taking him to Madison, but he will continue to work on Light Pollution and Public Relations. Gerry Samolyk offers to serve as Observatory Director as he's already for all intents and purposes functioning in that capacity. Hanson: Tuck pointing 26" building

Aug 24 Hanson: Tuck pointing 26" building

Sep 1 Asztalos & Hanson: Tuck pointing

Sep 7 Samolyk: Worked on 26" building. Carpentry for the pier top.

Sep 12 Hesseltine: Door and window arrived for 26" building

Sep 13 Samolyk: Work on 26" building, door and window.

Sep 14 Hesseltine, Asztalos, Samolyk, Fanson: Paint I-Beams.

Sep 16 Hesseltine: Paint on I-Beams. Not done.

 

Sep 20 In the Quonset Hut, Gerry Samolyk showed slides of the building construction. Frank Roldan reported progress on acquiring the Delco Dome.

Sep 22 Samolyk: Shot North/South line for 25.8"

Sep 23 Samolyk, Asztalos: Checked N/S line

Sep 26 At the September Board meeting, Frank Roldan proposed Samolyk as Observatory Director. After a discussion of the duties involved, Dan Fromm moved that Samolyk be elected to fill out the unexpired term of Ray Zit. Passed unanimously.

Sep 27 Samolyk, Asztalos, Pfannerstill, Toeller, Ganiere: Poured and finished the floor for the 26" building. Professional finisher utilized. Also, the cap for the pier was poured.

Oct 17 We receive the devastating news that Delco has turned down our request for their unused dome which is only serving as a roof. And they indicate there is little chance they will change their minds for the foreseeable future. We are left with only one bad option. We will need to manufacture a 22 foot dome ourselves, but Gerry Samolyk is confident he can make this happen.

Oct 24 Samolyk buttoning down for the winter - hay on floor of building - snow fence. Bill Konig: We will host the 1982 NCRAL in spring of 82. Samolyk asked for permission to invite the Spring Meeting of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) for May 1982 to be hosted by MAS.

Nov 12 Founder Member Ralph Buckstaff passes away. In February, Walter Scott Houston writes about Buckstaff (1887-1980) and writes the following about the MAS: "The thing the impresses me most about the Milwaukee Astronomical Society is the way it has managed to persist in high grade amateur astronomical work that is a real contribution to astronomy. It doesn't get wide national publicity but I know of no society that has contributed more solidly over the space of nearly half a century. If an amateur today wrote a history of the American amateur astronomer the MAS would have to be the biggest chapters devoted to clubs."

Nov 21 Society received a certificate at the Racine Astrofest - a design and craftsmanship award for the 10" portascopes. Samolyk: Building has been winterized and the telescope plans have been revised.

Nov 28 A new brochure is completed for fundraising. AAVSO meeting will be held one of the last two weekends in May 1982. Less than 100 people are expected and they will need a motel near airport (30 singles and 20 double rooms). They would like a tour of the Observatory and Samolyk will look into finding a speaker who uses AAVSO data. Walter Scott Houston was voted to be made an Honorary Member.

Dec 10 Dues increase is needed because of increases in magazines, postal rates, printing costs, maintenance materials, utilities, etc. Last increase 5-16-74! However, the Board does not approve.

Dec 12 The design and drawing for the base is completed and the electrical committee is working and would like the help of a draftsman.

1980 General

The MAS organizes a camping outing under dark skies in the Kettle Moraine State Park at the Greenbush Campsite. This will be a very successful outting and will be repeated for most of the next 20 years.

At the MAS camping outing at Greenbush, Richard Berry showed off his home-made 20-inch Dobsonian. Berry who at the time was the editor of Astronomy Magazine will be at the forefront of the Dobsonian revolution. In those early days the only way to get a Dobsonian was to build one yourself. Along with Dave Kreige they'll write the definitive guide to making large Dobsonians, "The Dobsonian Telescope: A Practical Manual for Building Large Aperture Telescopes."

1981

As the year begins we are in the middle of the project that will become the Zemlock Telescope and Z-Dome. It has been 9 years since the MAS started down this path and the project could have died several times along the way, but each time the club found a way forward to keep it alive. But at the end of 1980 after an incredible half year where we went from just a grass patch to all the cinder blocks laid and ready for the delivery of the Delco dome, we received word that we would not get that dome! The project has died.

But if you haven't yet figured it out, we're basically in a classic horror movie and this thing just refuses to die! In what was a crazy idea, Gerry Samolyk proposes that we can make one ourselves.

Why Was This So Crazy?

It wasn't as if the club didn't have some experience with dome building. We designed the A-Dome, but we had major help by having professional welders assemble it. For the B-Dome we took a major shortcut by getting a farm silo dome and having that company modify it. We then had to make a slit cover and we went with a retractable one which we will have over 10 years of difficulty making it work properly. Furthermore, these were just 14 foot domes and all the personnel involved in those projects were no longer there in Milwaukee. And the needed 22 foot dome was 2.5 times the area of the 14 foot domes.

Finally, Samolyk was not going to have the luxury of building the dome in a nice climate controlled (and especially wind controlled) warehouse. We could make the pieces of the dome on terra firma, but all of the assembly would have to done in place. Though Bill Albrecht claimed he sneakily designed the Delco dome in 3 pieces so it would be moved one day to the MAS, the fact was that it was being built in a warehouse in downtown Milwaukee and then had to be transported to Oak Creek.

But ultimately what didn't make it crazy was the simple matter of practicality. There was no real alternative. And Samolyk would prove it could be designed and built.

As the working year begins, it will be the original schedule which is to do the carpentry work. The major work on the dome won't begin until September. Meanwhile, the telescope committee headed by Bill Tuerck, finalizes the design and pieces will be fabricated. The most amazing piece was the massive fork which has to hold the incredibly heavy telescope with its 175 lb mirror. With the dimensions in hand, Jim Fanson, who is in his senior year at UWM getting his engineering degree, for a class he designs the fork and then gets a local company to fabricate it at no charge!

Below: A couple of pictures of the Telescope Committee in the home of Bill Tuerck taken by John Asztalos showing the 1/4 scale model of the finished scope which was built by Tuerck.

As with 1980, we'll present the year by the log book entries.

Apr 4 Samolyk, Asztalos, Roldan, Hanson: Carpentry.

Apr 18 Samolyk, Asztalos, Hanson, Ganiere: Carpentry.

May The fork is completed and delivered. It was designed by Jim Fanson as an engineering project for his degree. He gets a local company to fabricate it at no charge.

May 16 Pfannerstill, Samolyk, Fanson, Asztalos, Hesseltine: Painted and scraped.

May 29 Samolyk, Ganiere, Asztalos, Hesseltine: Work on floor in 26" observatory.

Jun 13 Work - carpentry.

Jun 14 Samolyk: Fix C-Shed track.

Jun 20 Hesseltine, Samolyk, Asztalos, Bill Tuerck, Peter Smitka: Stairs in 26" building.

Jun 21 Asztalos: Painted sign.

Jun 27 Samolyk, Asztalos, Hesseltine, Brian Cieslak, Eileen Koenic, Fanson: Work on 26" building.

Jul 4 Samolyk, Hesseltine, Zych: Work on roof rafters.

Jul 5 Samolyk, Smitka, Hesseltine: Work on 26" building.

Jul 11 Samolyk, John Pfannerstill, Hesseltine: Work on 26" building.

Aug 15 Asztalos, Hesseltine: Work on 26" building.

Aug 22 Samolyk, Luann Kych, Hanson, Tuerck, Smitka: Work on 26" building.

Aug The Astronomical League creates an award for outstanding contributions to astronomy by amateurs named for Leslie Peltier who is awarded postumously. Ed Halbach is first living person to receive the Peltier Award as he is recognized by his many contributions and especially in variable stars.

The construction of the 22 foot dome starts in earnest in with the delivery of aluminum. It has already been spec'd. It will need a base ring, a ring skirt, rib slats for the dome skeleton and then the skins, the triangluar pieces that will be riveted to the ribs.

Sep 2 Tuerck, Hesseltine: Metal delivery.

Sep 5 Asztalos, Hesseltine: Set up jig for cutting dome base ring.

Sep 9 Tuerck, Cieslak: Work on dome.

Sep 12 Samolyk, Tuerck, Hesseltine: Work on dome.

Sep 13 Samolyk, Tuerck, Hesseltine, Zych: Work dome.

Sep 14 Tuerck, Hesseltine: Metal work.

Sep 19 Samolyk, Tuerck, Hesseltine, Smitka: Work on dome.

Sep 24 Samolyk, Tuerck, Luann Zych, Zych, Hesseltine: Dome work.

Sep 26 Cora Zemlock passes away at age 96. She had been a member of the MAS since 1946.

Sep 30 Hesseltine: Dome ring.

Oct 1 Samolyk: Cut skirt for dome.

Oct 3 Samolyk, Hesseltine: Work on dome.

Oct 4 Samolyk, Asztalos, Hesseltine: Work on dome.

Oct 8 Tuerck, Hesseltine: Work on dome.

Oct 10 Samolyk, Tuerck, Hesseltine: Work on dome

Oct 11 Samolyk: Dome ring.

Oct 13 Hesseltine, Tuerck: Dome.

Oct 17 Samolyk, Tuerck, Luann Zych: Dome.

Oct 18 Samolyk, Hesseltine: Dome.

Oct 26 Asztalos, Hesseltine: Dome

Oct 28 Samolyk, Hesseltine: Work on dome.

Oct 29 Samolyk: Ribs for dome.

Oct 30 Samolyk: Ribs for dome.

Oct 31 Samolyk, Asztalos, Tuerck, Mark & Luann Zych, Ganiere, Tom Renner, Hesseltine: Dome ribs.

Nov 1 Samolyk, Asztalos, Mark & Luann Zych, Hesseltine: Dome.

Nov 5 Samolyk: Dome.

Nov 7 Virgil Tangney, Asztalos, Samolyk, Cieslak, Gregg Cieslak: Dome ribs.

Nov 8 Samolyk, Asztalos, Tuerck: Dome.

Nov 9 Samolyk, Zych: Shoot elevation on dome.

Nov 10 Samolyk, Hesseltine: Dome.

Nov 14-15

Though there will be much more work to go on the dome, this weekend was easily the most significant. Because we had a couple of days on the weekend of the 14-15 with good weather (and especially with little wind), all the skins of the dome were applied. This was a race against time as a half completed dome is extremely dangerous as it could easily become a large sail, and a dome does not have a lot of strength until it is nearly complete. By the log count, 16 MAS members participated that weekend.

Nov 14 Samolyk, Asztalos, Zych, Luann Zych, Virgil Tangney, Mary Ann Tangney, Hesseltine, Tuerck, Hanson, Cieslak, Jeff Rorka, Tom Schmidtkunz, unknown: Apply dome skins.

Nov 15 Samolyk, Zych, Tom Renner, Hanson, Asztalos, Roldan, Toeller, Cieslak, Hesseltine: Complete the dome skins.

At the end of the first day of work on the dome skins, less than half have been applied. But the crew is getting faster with the application of each additional skin. The work on the dome skins continued at a much accelerated rate that fewer pictures were taken of the progress. However, the progress does slow when the final skins are applied in the area of the slit. By the end of the day the goal of getting all the skins applied was achieved and there were no injuries to any of the members who participated.

Nov 27 Samolyk: Knee wall under dome.

Nov 28 Samolyk, Hanson: Under dome work.

Dec 5 Samolyk: Framing.

Dec 25 Fix cover on slit.

 

Name Key

Full names of individuals referenced on this page with their last names only.:

Samolyk - Gerry Samolyk
Asztalos - John Asztalos
Fanson - Jim Fanson
Hesseltine - Chris Hesseltine
Hanson - Gene Hanson
Ganiere - Brian Ganiere
Tuerck - Bill Tuerck
Zych - Mark Zych
Cieslak - Brian Cieslak
Smitka - Peter Smitka
Borchardt - Paul Borchardt
Tangney - Virgil Tangney
Roldan - Frank Roldan
Zit - Ray Zit
Harris - Dwight Harris
Toeller - Jim Toeller