Historic Downtown

---

The First Downtown Planetarium

By Ken Scoville

he recent announcement by the University of Arizona of its plans for a new science center to become a centerpiece attraction for the Rio Nuevo Project is sure to generate public interest and excitement. The design features a unique bridge that would connect the east and west sides, bridging over the Interstate-10. The science center certainly seems to fit the notion of developing attractions that can be found nowhere else in the city, yet truly represent the uniqueness of the community. Stargazers from around the world recognize Tucson as a center for astronomy, and local observatories continue to document research on the galaxies, thanks to our clear skies. A major portion of the science center will feature a planetarium that essentially replaces the Flandrau on the University of Arizona campus. But while the UA’s plans are ambitious and spectacular, the idea to bring a planetarium downtown is not entirely new and neither is the idea of a major revitalization of downtown.

Urban renewal was a failed attempt to inject new life into Tucson’s downtown. Begun in the spring of 1965, its roots were in World War II-era plans to remake the old part of the Old Pueblo; it would not become feasible until federal money was available in the 1960s. The manifestation of urban renewal was essentially demolition, new construction, and hoping that people would come. Much of this first renewal still lives in infamy, but the planetarium that never happened was one of the good ideas that the community of that era was excited about.

The excitement began with a lunch meeting in March 1966 at the Pioneer Hotel, where the director of the planetarium at the University of North Carolina gave a presentation. Local boosters listened intently for wisdom and the promise that the proposed Frank Borman Planetarium would be economically viable in the urban renewal area. After the meeting, internationally-known University of Arizona astronomer Dr. G.P. Kuiper spoke in support of this new planetarium. Over the next few months, officials began to look at the hard issues of this proposal with a cost of approximately $500,000. Excitement was building in the community with the obvious connection to the public schools and education in the Old Pueblo. Newspaper coverage praised the expansion of knowledge about the space age, a workshop training approach for teachers, and a strong connection to the growing astronomy community in Tucson. By May 1966 a model had been constructed and featured the planetarium in El Presidio Park between the old courthouse and the new city hall. Pima County stepped up as one of the financial players for this project, even though there had been a great deal of animosity between the city and county governments since both entities were involved in this massive urban renewal project. County supervisor Dennis Weaver was among the public officials who had toured other planetariums to gain insight and verify attendance numbers. Weaver’s research convinced him that Tucson needed to create such an attraction.

Conflict began when county officials questioned the viability of locating the Borman Planetarium in El Presidio Park. El Presidio was considered too small, as officials feared the park would be overwhelmed and too crowded. The county would have to purchase urban renewal land from the city at a cost of $70,000. By October 1966, the outlook for the planetarium’s development became cloudy as the cost estimates rose to $400,000 for the structure and a total bill of $1 million for all the necessities, including the projection instrument. The citizen committee and the county began to have differences about the location as well as concerns about the escalating cost estimates; county officials began to balk at costs that came close to the million mark. The citizen committee brought in planetarium directors from California who warned ... to not build a second-rate planetarium in the astronomy center of the country. The committee was also caught between escalating conflicts between the city and county about other urban renewal issues and projects like the county pedestrian bridge over Congress and Broadway that would connect the county buildings and the TCC. The committee pulled out all the stops with a visit to the Old Pueblo by Tucson’s homegrown astronaut Frank Borman in late December 1966. Borman was honored to have the planetarium named after him and visited with local government officials. He offered to possibly have the Gemini 7 space capsule and his space suit on permanent display at the planetarium. Borman left Tucson on December 29 to prepare for his upcoming Apollo flight.

Unfortunately, the year of excited anticipation gave way to the hard realities of economic feasibility and bickering between the two government entities. Completion of the massive urban renewal projects in total took quite a toll on the finances of the city and county with government buildings being over budget and shoddy construction causing many cost overruns. The partnership between the two entities deteriorated and much of what was hoped for never materialized, including the Frank Borman Planetarium.

All of us involved with the Rio Nuevo renewal certainly hope for the best for the new science center. Hopefully this exciting proposal will not become bogged down by the politics that doomed the Borman Planetarium in the 1960’s.

---

---

---

BACK