Photograph of Old University of Alabama Observatory — Photograph by Alex Bush, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Old Observatory

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

From the record

“The Old University of Alabama Observatory, now known as Frederick R. Maxwell Hall, was an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.”
Wikipedia article Old University of Alabama Observatory, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 47 National Register listings published here for Tuscaloosa County · listed in 1972 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. N of University Blvd., on University of Alabama campus, University, 35401
When was it listed? January 1972
Category. building
Census division. Tuscaloosa
Architectural style. Greek Revival architecture
National Register reference number. 72000187 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

60 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 60 fires within 5 miles of Old Observatory between 1994 and 2020, burning about 454 acres in total. None started naturally. 15 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	18
Arson/incendiarism	15
Railroad operations and maintenance	8
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	7
Misuse of fire by a minor	6
Recreation and ceremony	2
Equipment and vehicle use	2
Other causes	1
Smoking	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
5 September 1995	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
20 September 2020	Debris and open burning	2.5 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	20200920-2
18 September 2007	Arson/incendiarism	5.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
16 September 2010	Smoking	2.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
30 August 2011	Arson/incendiarism	8.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	42 CR 82, AL
3 August 2011	Arson/incendiarism	120 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	CR 29, AL
26 August 2011	Misuse of fire by a minor	8.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	7600 CHARLIE SHIRLEY ROAD, AL
13 August 2004	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named

Every fire recorded in Tuscaloosa County

Mines and quarries near this property

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Old Observatory: 6 producers, 2 past producers. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Titanium, Metal, Zirconium, Kyanite, REE. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Airport Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction, Titanium, Metal, Zirconium, Kyanite, REE	Producer	Placer
American Mine	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Holley Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer	Unconsolidated Sediments
Holley Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
No. 2 Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Plant No. 2	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Plant Operation	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
W.T. Ratliff Co., Inc. Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Tuscaloosa County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Alabama Book Store, The	0.2 miles	2020
Gorgas-Manly Historic District	0.2 miles	1971
President's Mansion	0.2 miles	1972
Foster Auditorium, The University of Alabama	0.4 miles	2005
Caplewood Drive Historic District	0.4 miles	1985
Pinehurst Historic District	0.5 miles	1986

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 72000187 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Tuscaloosa County	All 47 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.