Groveport Messenger - September 5th, 2021
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PAGE 12 - GROVEPORT MESSENGER - <strong>September</strong> 5, <strong>2021</strong><br />
www.columbusmessenger.com<br />
It was a time to look to the night sky<br />
By Linda Dillman<br />
Staff Writer<br />
The Borror Observatory in the former<br />
Hoover Y-Park on Rohr Road was once a<br />
mecca for local stargazers who looked to<br />
the skies through the lens of a homemade<br />
10-inch reflecting telescope.<br />
Built out of concrete blocks in 1961, with<br />
a 14-foot dome donated by Columbus<br />
Astronomical Society (CAS) member<br />
Charles Worch, the observatory was a<br />
memorial to Ed Borror, who passed away<br />
in 1960 and whose financial contributions<br />
made the park possible.<br />
According to Charles Legg–who spent<br />
many hours as a teenager volunteering at<br />
the observatory and served as its de facto<br />
director–not long after it was built, the<br />
observatory fell into disuse until Legg was<br />
approached by a member of the YMCA who<br />
told him about the situation.<br />
“When I was16, I volunteered at COSI<br />
doing planetarium lectures and was a<br />
member of the CAS,” said Legg, 73. “I met<br />
Jim Wagner, who worked at the Southside<br />
YMCA. He told me about the situation with<br />
the observatory. He expressed concern that<br />
no one was using the observatory for its<br />
intended purpose–to provide public open<br />
houses and its use by amateur<br />
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astronomers. I was fairly ambitious back<br />
then at 16, so I expressed an interest in visiting<br />
the observatory, checking the condition<br />
of the telescope and building, and seeing<br />
what I could do to help.”<br />
Legg visited the site and found the<br />
building dirty, with spider webs everywhere,<br />
but the telescope was covered and<br />
in good condition. Wagner met with Legg’s<br />
parents, who agreed their son could help<br />
correct the situation, although his mother<br />
had reservations about her son having a<br />
key to the observatory.<br />
“In the end, it all worked out, and there<br />
was never a problem,” said Legg.<br />
“However, my dad had to take me to the<br />
observatory and pick me up until I received<br />
my drivers' license. Since I was still an<br />
active member of the CAS, it was not too<br />
much trouble stirring up interest, primarily<br />
with the younger members; the 13-17-<br />
year-olds.”<br />
According to Legg, the observatory<br />
became a focal point for younger members<br />
of the CAS.<br />
“In some ways, members of the CAS ran<br />
its operation through me, but there was<br />
never an official connection to the CAS, we<br />
were just all members of the CAS,” said<br />
Legg. “By that time, we had formed the<br />
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Junior Astronomers of<br />
Columbus. It was a<br />
rebellious time in the<br />
1960s. Over time, I<br />
believe we disbanded<br />
and just were once<br />
again members of the<br />
CAS. We would meet<br />
on Saturday afternoons<br />
when we would<br />
clean up the building<br />
and kill the wasps<br />
who loved to build<br />
homes in the dome.<br />
They did not like the<br />
vibrations when we<br />
rotated the dome.”<br />
Work parties on<br />
occasion addressed<br />
issues such as painting<br />
old wooden chairs<br />
in the room below the telescope and the<br />
weathering dome, which also needed a new<br />
coat of silver paint donated by a local store.<br />
Legg worked out a deal with a company to<br />
donate a gas heater for the wintertime and<br />
the Southside Y to supply the propane.<br />
The youths were also creative in obtaining<br />
items such as a blackboard, bookcase,<br />
and a table through donations.<br />
“Some Saturday nights, 25 to 50 people<br />
might show up, especially when something<br />
astronomical was in the news, such as a<br />
comet or a meteor shower,” said Legg.<br />
“Other members and I were on local TV<br />
shows. It was primarily to promote the<br />
observatory and get people to visit. We<br />
were on frequently for a show that followed<br />
Flippo on Channel 10. We seemed to have<br />
better attendance for a few weeks after<br />
doing the publicity. Scout groups were also<br />
frequent visitors. Some scouts were interested<br />
in getting their astronomy merit<br />
badges.”<br />
Mini-lectures on astronomical subjects<br />
were often presented before taking visitors<br />
up to the telescope and CAS members<br />
would set up their own telescopes around<br />
the observatory for the public to view<br />
objects.<br />
“With the observatory telescope, you<br />
could see the rings of Saturn, the moons of<br />
Jupiter and its Great Red Spot, the crescent<br />
shape of Venus, the white polar cap of<br />
Mars contrasted with the red surface. All<br />
these were visible at one time or another<br />
during a year,” Legg said. “Most visitors<br />
were just amazed at what they could see<br />
when looking into the eyepiece of a telescope.<br />
They would ask, ‘Is that real, or is it<br />
a photograph?’ We would then put our<br />
hand in from of the telescope, and the<br />
object would disappear.”<br />
Another favorite viewing destination<br />
was the moon. Legg said everyone sees the<br />
moon in the night sky all the time, but<br />
until you look at it through a high-powered<br />
telescope, you have not seen the moon.<br />
The theft of the observatory’s original<br />
homemade telescope was discovered early<br />
one Saturday evening. Security was always<br />
Photos courtesy of Charles Legg<br />
This is a rear of the Borror Observatory in the former Hoover Y-<br />
Park on Rohr Road back in the days when it was operational.<br />
Young astronomers use a telescope set<br />
up just outside the Borror Observatory.<br />
Members of the Columbus Astronomical<br />
Society would often set up their own telescopes<br />
around the observatory for the<br />
public to view objects in the night sky.<br />
a problem since the site was out in the<br />
country and rather isolated even though a<br />
caretaker lived nearby.<br />
“We found broken windows several<br />
times, but there were not many valuable<br />
items kept there because of the problem,<br />
other than the telescope,” said Legg, who<br />
continued to be in charge of the observatory<br />
until 1968, when he graduated from high<br />
school.<br />
A new, smaller, yet more powerful commercial<br />
reflecting telescope replaced the<br />
one stolen, but it, too, was taken after a few<br />
years. Legg believes after the second telescope<br />
disappeared, activities stopped at the<br />
observatory, but is unsure since he was<br />
attending college and no longer involved<br />
with the observatory.<br />
Legg said he had always been a lifelong<br />
learner, and much of that learning started<br />
when he was at the YMCA Observatory and<br />
the COSI Planetarium. The observatory<br />
was special to him because it allowed him to<br />
indulge in all of his passions at one time.<br />
“I learned from fellow amateur<br />
astronomers,” said Legg. “I was doing what<br />
I enjoyed and educated children and older<br />
adults every time we had an open house. As<br />
a side benefit, I made many friends, young<br />
and old. My strength is an extensive technical<br />
understanding; my passion is learning,<br />
doing, and teaching.”