Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 10, 1992                   TAG: 9203100293
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: BY PAUL DELLINGER
DATELINE: EMORY                                LENGTH: Medium

HISTORIC E&H DOME BEING RENOVATED IN $50,000 PROJECT

The college's observatory was built in 1914, thanks largely to Fred Allison, a Glade Spring native who graduated from Emory & Henry and returned to teach.

Allison convinced Bryan, who then was U.S. secretary of state, to give a campus lecture with ticket proceeds going toward the planned observatory. A snowstorm closed roads on the day Bryan was to arrive, and Allison scrambled to arrange his transportation by train. Bryan was so impressed with Allison's dedication that he donated part of his fee.

Now the observatory is involved in a $50,000 project to renovate the college's physics laboratory and observatory and enhance course offerings in physics and astronomy.

Funds are being drawn from a grant provided by the C&P Telephone Co.

The first $25,000 from the grant is being used to improve working and teaching conditions in the observatory dome and an adjoining classroom, said James Warden, associate professor of physics who is coordinating the project.

Warden researched the observatory's history. He said Bryan's visit and a series of private donations resulted in construction of the observatory and a science building.

The observatory was built from materials available at the time, wood with a metal sheathing exterior, and its door equipped with manual pulleys, which make it hard to open today. But, Warden said, the huge clock-driven telescope bought in 1914 is still a fine instructional instrument. It is being used in an introductory astronomy course this term.