Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. 8 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1902.
From the record
“Brooks House is a historic home and observatory located at Geneva in Ontario County, New York. The observatory is a small frame building consisting of a two-story tower flanked by two small wings.”
Wikipedia article Smith Observatory and Dr. William R. Brooks House, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 78 National Register listings published here for Ontario County · listed in 2008 · category: Building.
National Register reference number.08000275- 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
203 since 2000
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 203 fires within 5 miles of Smith Observatory and Dr. William R. Brooks House
between 2000 and 2020, burning about 158 acres in total. 12 started naturally. 26 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
84
Smoking
48
Arson/incendiarism
26
Debris and open burning
18
Natural
12
Equipment and vehicle use
9
Recreation and ceremony
3
Misuse of fire by a minor
2
Power generation/transmission/distribution
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
5 workings within 5 miles of Smith Observatory and Dr. William R. Brooks House: 3 past producers, 2 producers.
2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Limestone, General, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Salt. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Geneva, the town this property stands in, in 49 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 37 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 5 flash flood, 1 tornado.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
An isolated thunderstorm spawned a weak tornado in the City of Geneva near Packwood Road and Route 14. The initial touchdown occurred on the west side of Rte. 14 where trees were downed. As the storm crossed Route 14 it destroyed empty grain elevators. Pieces of the buildings were strewn across fields to the northeast. Further east on Packwood Rd. about a dozen trees were downed. On Town Line Rd to the north of Packwood Rd. there was extensive damage to a stand of trees. Approximately 90% of mature trees in a two acre area were totally destroyed.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
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.
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.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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