At 1401 Observatory Drive you reach the Washburn Observatory, completed in 1881 on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus. Completed in 1881, this building was a major research facility for about 50 years, and it still carries that scientific legacy — its observatory code is 753. The observatory is named for Cadwallader C. Washburn, the former Wisconsin governor who helped make this place possible.
In 1876 the Wisconsin State Legislature passed an act to provide for university funding, and Washburn added a provision that allocated $3,000 per year for three years to establish astronomy instruction and a corresponding observatory; that money was to be raised with property tax rather than state funds. On September 18, 1877, University president John Bascom announced that Washburn would provide an observatory with a telescope intended to be larger than the 15-inch refractor at Harvard. Today the building houses the UW–Madison College of Letters and Science Honors Program, and the telescope remains in use by students in introductory astronomy courses and by the general public during open houses and viewings.
Notice that its telescope, once meant to outsize Harvard's 15-inch refractor, still serves students and public viewings today.