Meteor Crater Observatory Ruins

In the mid-1930's, Harry and Hope Locke built the impressive Meteor Crater Observatory on Route 66 near the Meteor Crater west of Winslow. It closed almost immediately after it opened due to lack of interest and debts from building the observatory. In 1946 Dr. Harvey Nininger re-opened the observatory as the American Meteorite Museum -dedicated to the study of meteorites. Dr. Nininger worked and lived in the observatory for many years. Visitors could pay 25 cents to peer through the telescope in the observatory tower at the huge meteor crater 6 miles to the south.