Omaha, NE: Creighton University

A June 1930 newspaper article described a new garden at Creighton University, built next to the campus observatory (which was constructed in 1886 and remodeled in 1910). The garden was created in memory of the late Father William F. Rigge (1857-1927; obituary here and here), a renowned astronomical researcher and educator who oversaw the observatory’s construction. A June 1930 article was published about the new waterfall and pool (emphasis added):

Although a new coat of paint has dressed up the observatory at Creighton university and there will be a new custodian of the institution this fall, the traditions surrounding it and its founder, the late Father W. F. Rigge, still color it…. So highly is Father Rigge revered at the school that an attractive pond has been built to his memory just outside the observatory where he worked for so many years. A tiny waterfall runs over cool rocks into the pool and trees shade its waters. A shrine is to be built along its banks later this summer.

The Omaha Evening Bee-News, Jun 25, 1930

The grotto was not added until after June 1930. Photos of the observatory from Creighton’s historical photo archive show that it was not there during June of that year:

It’s possible that a different grotto had been built on the campus the year before; the 1929 university yearbook shows a photo of a Lourdes grotto (on page 153), which does not seem to have been included in any other year’s yearbook, and which appears to have been in a different location than next to the observatory. Perhaps the statue of Our Lady was moved to this grotto. The grotto was definitely added by September 1930, when the first of the photos shown below was taken:

A Creighton Alumni blog post contains some information and images of this garden and grotto, as well as a fascinating short moving picture taken of it in the 1930s.

A university archivist stated that the grotto was vandalized in 1959, and student efforts to raise funds to restore it were unsuccessful. It was likely removed in the early 1960s. The observatory (which could not be used after the 1970s due to light pollution), was torn down in 2022 to make room for a new Jesuit residence.