This Gimmick Rally has something for everyone – backroads driving, masterpiece architecture, the “Birthplace of Modern Astrophysics”, lush landscaping, fascinating historical characters, art and engineering. We invite you on a drive and tour of the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Learn about the history of:
- Astrophysicist and observatory founder George Hale best known for his discovery of magnetic fields in sunspots.
- The Great Refractor Telescope, the largest of its type in 1897 at 63 feet long and weighing 20 tons, is so perfectly balanced it can be moved by hand.
- Financier Charles Yerkes was convicted of larceny and evicted from Pennsylvania, moved to Chicago made a small fortune in controlling street railway systems through bribery and blackmail, then bankrolled the observatory in an effort to improve his public image.
- Chicago-based architect Henry Ives Cobb, who designed numerous buildings at the University of Chicago and Lake Forest College, is responsible for the Romanesque and Beaux Arts styled observatory with Greco-Roman terra-cotta architectural details.
- Notable students and visitors of the Observatory including Albert Michelson, Edwin Hubble, Gerard Kuiper, Carl Sagan and Albert Einstein.
- The Frederick Olmsted landscaping firm, of New York’s Central Park fame, and their graceful design and variety of tree selections integrated along the shore of Lake Geneva.
- Ownership of the Observatory by the University of Chicago since 1897, the near demolition, and ultimate transfer to the Yerkes Future Foundation and ongoing restoration activities.
Oh, and there’s the drive to and from the observatory. We depart from the Crystal Lake Holiday Inn, 800 South Route 31 at 9:00am. You’ll enjoy the two-lane backroads starting out from Crystal Lake and head north into southern Wisconsin in the glacier-formed Kettle Moraine area in Walworth County. We’re making the driving directions easy to follow so you can enjoy the scenery and watch for answers to the gimmick questionnaire. Given the destination, many questions will be geared towards astronomy – planets, stars, physics, and related topics. We’ll have a meal at the picturesque Pier 290 restaurant overlooking Lake Geneva. We think you’ll find this Gimmick Rally “Out of This World”. Event fee covers entrance to Yerkes Observatory only. Fee does not include lunch.
There are forty tickets available for the 12:30 tour and IJC has bought a block of twenty. If you want to guarantee entrance to the Observatory tour, we strongly suggest you buy your tickets NOW. Once the twenty IJC tickets are gone, you will have to go to the Yerkes Observatory website to buy tickets and the tickets could very well be sold out. The observatory tours are very popular, especially in the peak summer months, and they sell out every tour. Registration and tickets are available for $50 per person starting Tuesday, April 1 at 8:00am. DON’T WAIT.