Willliam Smith was born in 1818 in Canterbury, Kent, England. He and his brothers developed a very successful nursery business in Geneva in the mid 1800's. His legacy of generosity and business sense can be considered to have a pivotal role in Geneva's development. He was an organizer of the Standard Optical Company in 1883 and director of the First National Bank of Geneva. His name is appropriately recognized at the college that bears his name, William Smith College for women, as well as Smith Opera House and the Smith Observatory. He had the Smith Opera House built in 1894 and gave it to Hobart College in 1906.

Like other wealthy Victorians, Smith exhibited an interest in astronomy and astrology. Perhaps because of this interest, or because of the prestige of owning such a structure, Smith initially had a 'crude' observatory erected behind his 29 room mansion at 600 Castle Street.

Apparently not satisfied with this facility, he commissioned the professional Warner & Swasey building and prevailed upon William R. Brooks to direct it. He had hoped that it would serve as a beacon of enlightenment for the people of Geneva. He promoted free lectures offered by Dr. Brooks.

In 1907, five years prior to his death in 1912, Smith willed to Hobart College his mansion, the observatory and the house he had built for Brooks. Upon Brooks' death in 1921, his daughter, Anna, purchased the 'director's house' from Hobart and continued to live there until 1952, a total of 64 years.

William Smith died at the age of 93, just before the charter class of William Smith College was to graduate. Hobart and William Smith (HWS) colleges were joined as coordinate colleges.

To this day his legacy has an impact on his adopted home town of Geneva, N.Y.

Willliam R. Brooks was born June 11, 1844 in Maidstone, Kent, England. In 1857 Brooks, his mother and his Baptist minister father immigrated to the U.S. and settled in Marion, N.Y.

After his marriage, he and his wife moved to Phelps, N.Y., where Brooks became the village photographer. An earlier voyage to Australia sparked Brooks' interest in astronomy as he watched the ship's captain make celestial observationswith a sextant. In Phelps, Brooks built his own telescopes and discovered his first comet in 1881. In the those days sizable awards were given for such discoveries. In 1886 he discovered 3 comets with his Phelps observatory.

Brooks' success as a 'comet finder' in Phelps attracted the attention of wealthy nurseryman William Smith. To lure Brooks to Geneva, Mr. Smith erected a state of the art observatory and a Victorian home for Brooks and his family. Besides making his observations and photographing celestial bodies from his new observatory, Brooks lectured and taught at Hobart College. His research at the Smith Observatory yielded the discovery of 16 more comets.

Brooks considered his greatest triumph was his observation of Pons's comet of 1812 during its first return. The record number of comet discoveries is held by Jean-Louis Pons (1761-1831), with 28 comets to his credit, followed by Brooks' 27. Of the two comets that bear Pons's name, the 12P Pons Brooks Comet is listed among Pons's discoveries.

By the time of his death on May 3, 1921, Brooks had been honored for his many accomplishments. He received medals from the Lick Observatory, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the International Jury at the St. Louis Exhibition, the Astronomical Society of Mexico and the Lalande Medal of the Paris Academy of Sciences. The winner of many awards and medals, Brooks had been named a Professor and Honorary Doctor of Science by Hobart College.

"This medal, founded A.D. MDCCCXC by Joseph A. Donohoe is presented to W.R. Brooks in commemoration of the discovery of a comet on October 16, 1893"