[meteorite-list] Re: Barringer Meteor $$$$

From: almitt <almitt_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:25:45 2004
Message-ID: <3ED29084.B55D6404_at_kconline.com>

Steve Schoner wrote:

>>But it is interesting to me that he spent so much time and<<
>>effort building it, only to remain there for a few years.<<

>>It would be interesting to research the story as to<<
>>what made him leave that spot.<<


Hi Steve and all,

Steve this is something that may have slipped your mind or maybe you just don't
remember but in
his book "Find a Falling Star" Harvey Nininger mentions that the old Museum we now
talk about
was called the Old Watch Tower. Nininger describes visitors going to the observatory
would climb
the stairs to view the Crater which he said was just as visible from the porch. You
apparently
couldn't see into the crater as the tower was too low. People could also buy souvenirs
and a
model of the meteorite crater was on display at the location for people to view or as
Nininger
refereed to, learn the hidden secrets of the crater. Nininger viewed the place as
anything but
beautiful and even refereed to it as a monstrosity. He as you said rented it out from
the
landlords and the building was pre-existing.

The reason for his leaving that location was because Route 66 use to run right by his
museum.
The Nininger's had many hardships while living there. Among them was no electricity,
isolation
and no real police protection, no entertainment like movies. They used oil lamps for
light at
night and their hours were regulated by the light hours. If they went somewhere they
had to
trust their help to watch over the place which was probably some risk to them as
everything
they had worked for was represented in the museum there. In all the museum operated on

route 66 for three years before the interstate which by-passed them drastically cut
the
museums business down to half which made it less feasible to maintain and support the
Nininger's. At its peak the museum housed some 5,000 meteorites from 526 different
finds
or falls. It had displays on various stages of weathering of meteorites as well as
shapes and
sizes. A greater variety of specimens were present than at any other institution
larger or
small. The museum had been made not only to support the Nininger's but to provided a
much needed education on meteorites that was not present in even the better colleges
and
higher education facilities of the day. Being near the crater allowed for visitors to
see both
attractions and I would say were more educated about meteorites at the Nininger Museum

than even the nicer museums of the day with meteorite displays.

One last note, he did spend lots of time fixing it up to accommodate people so they
could use
it for a museum. Rest rooms had to accommodate more people than it was originally
designed
for. Most of the floor space was for the display specimens and they took a small room
for
their living quarters. They painted it inside and out to make it look better and used
lighter
color paint on the inside to facilitate better lighting of the specimens since no
lighting was
was available from electric sources. Really a pretty amazing sacrifice for them to
make.
How many people today could or would do without such convenience.

--AL
Received on Mon 26 May 2003 06:09:09 PM PDT