The county claimed the fifth largest reflecting telescope in Pennsylvania, according to a story in the April 6, 1939 edition of the Warren Times-Mirror, courtesy of the Warren County Historical Society.

Raymond Steber, known better for being part of the F.A. Steber Cigar Company, was the driving force behind bringing the primary mirror for that telescope to the county.

He had already built and subsequently dismantled one observatory — featuring a 12.5-inch telescope — in Warren by 1934. That facility was on upper Buchanan Street north of Verbeck

In the 1930s, he came across an upgrade he couldn’t refuse, according to Steber’s granddaughter, Liz Webster, now of Franklin, Tasmania, Australia — a 16.5-inch mirror for a reflector telescope.

Photo by Zaakiyah Cua, USDA Forest Service The foundation stones of the old Warren County Observatory remain in place off of Hearts Content Road.

“Sometime in the 1930s, a cousin of our grandfather’s, who worked in NYC for the firm which built the Brooklyn Bridge, contacted him regarding a flawed — cracked — telescope lens,” Webster said. “The manufacturer could no longer sell it to the university which had ordered it, so it was ‘going cheap’ by word of mouth amongst astronomers, engineers.”

“Mr. Steber, a hobbyist, bought the lens, and then enjoyed the challenge of constructing the telescope for it,” she said.

The project was a big enough deal that Scientific American ran a story on it.

Using a design created by Elbert Mohr, and parts and equipment donated by the National Forge and Ordnance Company of Irvine, Hammond Iron Works, Warren Motors, and Carlson’s Service Stores, Bert Hanson of the Jamestown Astronomers Guild build the 10.5-foot long, 18-inch diameter metal tube for the telescope, according to ‘The Observatory that Was’ by Mary Putnam, from the May 2015 edition of Stepping Stones, courtesy of the Warren County Historical Society.

With a new telescope, Steber needed a better, darker, location.

He was a founding member of the Warren County Astronomical Society, formed in October 1938. That group received permission to build its observatory on Allegheny National Forest property about 10 miles south of Warren on what is now Hearts Content Road — on the old Tidioute Road about 2 miles north of Sandstone Springs.

It was completed in 1939, and the new 16.5-inch telescope was the main draw.

“The facility was available for serious study or casual observation,” Putnam said. “The moon, planets, and a variety of stars, were easily observed.”

The new society and its observatory were popular. There were 160 members of the society and the observatory reportedly saw 600 visitors in a week.

Harry Grandquist lived with his wife, Mabel, in a cottage adjacent to the observatory location and oversaw the operation.

Later, “in the 1950s, two teenage boys with early interests and knowledge came from Jamestown and the Astronomers Guild to get acquainted with the Warren County Observatory. When the managing members realized how familiar they were with the location of celestial objects and the use of a large telescope, they gave Richard Carlson and D. James Boyd a key to open the observatory on Saturday nights for the public,” according to Putnam.

“Astronomy has been my hobby since 1945,” Carlson said in an August email to Webster. “Two of us Jamestown fellows operated the Warren Observatory during the late 1950s on Saturday evenings under the direction of Harry Grandquist.”

Among the visitors were Steber’s grandchildren — John, Elizabeth, and Howard Webster III. They were living in Rochester, N.Y., at the time and were regular guests in Warren.

“On our many visits to Warren, Ray used to wake us grandchildren up late at night, and drive us out to the observatory, to see the rings of Saturn, among other features of the summer sky,” Liz Webster said. “Those middle of the night visits to the observatory with our grandfather were always fun. Who else had a grandfather who’d wake them up in the middle of the night to go on a country drive to use ‘his’ telescope?”

Steber would entertain his groggy grandchildren on the ride by singing to them.

“The trips definitely fostered a lifelong interest in astronomy,” she said. “In addition, we kids used to love sitting outdoors on summer nights at home with our parents and check out the starry skies.”

Her father filled in a generation of interest in the skies. “My dad had been a B-24 pilot over the vast Pacific in WW2, and claimed to us that he could “navigate” by the stars when driving at night,” Webster said.

The family interest in astronomy has lasted, but over time, interest among the public waned. By 1961, there were only five active members and 500 people visited the telescope in a year.

The dome was taken down in 1962.

Multiple plans for new observatories fell through after that and parts of Steber’s telescope and the observatory that housed it were separated.

The foundation for the observatory can still be seen — as a ring of blocks. Those interested in visiting the site are welcome to, but it is not a developed area, does not have a convenient parking area, and it is close to private property.

“Be mindful of and respect private property boundary lines and all archaeological and historical resources on federal land are protected and should not be disturbed, damaged, or removed as they are protected so everyone can enjoy and learn from them now and in the future,” ANF Public Affairs Officer Christopher Leeser said.

The tube is kept by the historical society — which is working on a display for it at the Wilder Museum of Warren County History, according to Executive Director Michelle Gray.

According to Carlson, the mirror is in the possession of Tom Traub — a board member of the Martz Kohl Observatory in Frewsburg.

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