One hundred and nine years after Brown decided to mollify the ego of Winslow Upton by building him an observatory in Providence, the building and its astronomical equipment have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Upton, a professor of astronomy and the first dean of the University, was getting ready to pack his bags when two area silk manufacturers donated a former tin-can dump 200 feet above sea level, allowing the University to build a state-of-the-art observatory. The building was named for Rhode Island governor Herbert W. Ladd, who donated money for the purchase.