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

From: almitt <almitt_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:25:45 2004
Message-ID: <3ED2932C.43A611A5_at_kconline.com>

Hi all,

Sorry for the re-post but.
Resubmitting this as the words are all fitting neatly into my email composer but
when I send it and see the post on the list the words are all out of place. Must
be the difference in style or size between the two formats.

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 06:20:29 PM PDT