*Citations from the Loras College Archives and NewspaperArchive.com.
- July 14, 1963. The college received the gift of a 12-inch Newtonian-type telescope from two Dubuque alumni, to be placed in a proposed celestial observatory. It was valued at $2,000. A year previously D.V. Foley had proposed the observatory to the Board of Regents, “in keeping with the aerospace age, and to round out the physics department which has the only seismograph station in Iowa.” It would also allow for expansion in meteorology programs. The telescope itself had a 12-inch parabolic mirror, aluminized and overcoated, and didn’t depart from the parabolic curve by more than 1.1 millionth of an inch. Its focal length was approximately 108 inches. It was a tube of open steel framework design, with a mount of German equatorial type. It weighed approximately 700 pounds and had a maximum magnification power of 800.[1]
- September 15, 1963. Clarke College was building a planetarium to open in two years; it would be the only one in the Tri-State area.[2]
- March 18, 1964. Loras disclosed gifts and bequests of $200,000, a portion of which would go towards the new astronomical observatory and planetarium.[3]
- April 13, 1964. The Board of Regents approved construction of the proposed astronomical observatory and planetarium as well as authorizing preliminary steps for a new residence hall on campus.[4]
- July 2, 1964. The first unit of the George W. Heitkamp Memorial Observatory and Planetarium was being built on campus. The observatory, funded entirely by alumni gifts, was being constructed on the eastern edge of Smyth Field near 16th Street, the portion of campus with the greatest expanse of open sky. The first unit should have been completed within two weeks. The planetarium and solar telescope would complete the memorial. The installation had been planned since 1963, but had been delayed by site selection and study of similar installations. The observatory, a circular building of shadow block construction capped by an aluminized steel dome, would have an electrically powered 16.5 diameter dome. It would house the 12.5 inch reflecting telescope mounted on a concrete inertia block, electronically driven for automatically tracking stars. The addition would complete the college’s recent expansion of science education facilities.
- July 6, 1964. The observatory’s prefabricated dome, a “new idea in observatory building,” had been installed the previous week. It had been put together in one day by the Ash-Dome Co. of Plainfield, IL. Since that portion was completed, installing the 12.5 inch telescope was the only construction remaining; someone from the Adler Planetarium would visit and help with the mounting.[5] The observatory was constructed by Conlon, no architect known, at a cost of $5,840.23 and had an area of 211 sq. ft.[6]
- July 8, 1965. Loras College and William F. Bernbrock signed a contract as architects of the Planetarium for $44,575.00.[7]
- September 27, 1965. Construction on the planetarium unit had begun; it was to be built as a memorial to Professor William “Bill” Heitkamp, who had served on the physics faculty for 50 years and passed away in May 1964. The building would be octagonal with 4 attachments for entrances, and office, and equipment. Located east of CTK, the exterior would be red brick to match the rest of campus. The Goto projector from Japan was expected to arrive in early October. Its optical equipment would show 2,800 stars on a 33-ft diameter dome. 24 additional projectors would be installed in the near future for lecture demonstrations. The planetarium would have a 98-person seating capacity and be open to the public and school classes.[8]
- October 15, 1965. Loras and Conlon Construction Company signed a contract for construction of the Planetarium.[9] Construction on the planetarium portion of the memorial had slowed because cost estimates seemed too high. However, when Binz was being built, the delivery of the special crane from France was delayed by a dock strike in New York and construction halted. To keep the workers occupied, Loras negotiated a lower-priced contracted and an anonymous donor supplied approximately half of the $83,000 needed to build it.[10]
- November 12, 1965. The planetarium’s completion would be between late December and early January. At this point in time, the planetarium’s projector was the largest in the state of Iowa.[11]
- December 5, 1965. Workers were completing the final portion of the William Heitkamp Memorial planetarium and observatory.
- May 1, 1966. The Planetarium opened. In its first two months it received 1,600 visitors.[12]
- May 22, 1966. This was the first instance of a Loras planetarium show being advertised in the newspaper. Two members of the physics staff and a physics major would put on the show “Mars and the Mariner Mission.”[13] Throughout the year, other programs such as “Possibilities of Life Elsewhere in the Universe” during Parents’ Weekend, “The Christmas Star,” and “Flying Saucers, Fact or Fantasy,” were also advertised.[14]
- September 19, 1967. In an article about the construction of Binz, the newspaper also mentioned that the Heitkamp Planetarium was being built at the east end of CTK. The Goto instrument projects onto a dome of 33 ft, suspended by steel cables and surrounded by a three-foot walkway.[15] It would also have an office, heating and air-conditioning room, lobby and main room with a seating capacity of 92.[16]
- October 22, 1967. During his presidential inauguration weekend, Rt. Rev. Msgr. Justin A. Driscoll, Ph.D. dedicated the Heitkamp Memorial Planetarium along with other campus buildings. They were already in use.[17]
- March 6, 1977. The Loras planetarium was the second-largest in Iowa, seating 90 people; an estimated 6,000 people per year visited the planetarium. At this point there were about 9,000 planetariums in the U.S., and northern Iowa had seven.[18]
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1998. Kenneth McLaughlin became the director of the planetarium
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February 22, 2019. Open house event celebrating an honors group who raised funds to purchase a new projector for the Planetarium. The members of the group were Natalie Droeske (’19), Audrey Miller (’19), Austin Kuchenbecker (’19), Celia da Silva (’19), and Jacob Till (’19). They raised $17,000 to install an Emerald-Fixed laser projection system.
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No Date. The Planetarium cost $82,165 and the Observatory cost $5,840.[19]
[1] “12-Inch Telescope Gift to Loras from Alumni,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 14 July 1963, Page 16, NewspaperArchive.com.
[2] “Clarke Planetarium Will Be First in Tri-State Area,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 15 September 1963, Page 19, NewspaperArchive.com.
[3] “Loras Discloses Gifts, Bequests of $200,000,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 18 March 1964, Page 9, NewspaperArchive.com.
[4] “Farley Named Loras Regent,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 13 April 1964, Page 1, NewspaperArchive.com.
[5] “Loras Observatory Nearly Ready,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 6 July 1964, Page 9, NewspaperArchive.com.
[6] Observatory – General Information, Buildings & Grounds, Loras College Archives.
[7] Loras College and William F. Bernbrock Architects & Engineers, Contract, 8 July 1965, Heitkamp Planetarium – General Information, Buildings & Grounds, Loras College Archives.
[8] “Loras Starts Building Its New Planetarium,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 27 September 1965, Page 5, NewspaperArchive.com.
[9] Conlon Construction Co. and Loras College, Contract, 15 October 1965, Heitkamp Planetarium – General Information, Buildings & Grounds, Loras College Archives.
[10] Sarah Murphy, “Loras Time Capsule: Heitkamp Planetarium,” The Lorian, 29 November 1992, Page 5, Heitkamp Planetarium – General Information, Buildings & Grounds, Loras College Archives.
[11] “Planetarium Nears Completion,” The Lorian, 12 November 1965, Page 4 Column 3, Loras College Archives, Center for Dubuque History.
[12] “Heitkamp Memorial Planetarium Begins Second Decade,” The Lorian, 1 October 1976, Heitkamp Planetarium – General Information, Buildings & Grounds, Loras College Archives.
[13] “Planetarium,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 22 May 1966, Page 41, NewspaperArchive.com.
[14] “Inclement Weather May Spoil Weekend,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 14 October 1966, Page 2, NewspaperArchive.com, “Stars at Loras,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 1 December 1966, Page 28, NewspaperArchive.com, and “UFOs Topic of Planetarium Show,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 16 January 1967, Page 7, NewspaperArchive.com.
[15] “Heitkamp Observatory and Planetarium,” Loras College Buildings Summary, Loras College Archives.
[16] “New Loras Dorm to Be ‘Binz Hall’,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 19 September 1967, Page 13, NewspaperArchive.com.
[17] “Presidential Inauguration at Loras,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 6 August 1967, Page 6, NewspaperArchive.com.
[18] Vivian Rattay, “Dubuque Planetariums Put Stars in Your Eyes,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 6 March 1977, Heitkamp Planetarium – General Information, Buildings & Grounds, Loras College Archives.
[19] “Heitkamp Observatory and Planetarium,” Loras College Buildings Summary, Loras College Archives.
