The Shepherd University Observatory was built in the summer and fall of 2005 (the World Year of Physics) and the winter of 2006, and was made possible by a Research Challenge Fund Science and Technology Award from the West Virginia Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (WV EPSCoR). This Award, in the form of an Innovation Grant, was obtained by Dr. Jason Best of Shepherd University in October 2004. The Innovation Grants Program targets larger, more ambitious, cohesive, and/or more comprehensive innovations in laboratory/classroom settings that will encourage undergraduate students in West Virginia to continue careers in science, math, and engineering. Review panels evaluated the proposals in the areas of direct involvement of students, utilization in curriculum, innovation, professional development, interdisciplinary or interdepartmental collaboration, comprehensiveness and potential encouragement of students to enter math-science career tracks, and conformity to the requirements of the RFP. This grant was supplemented with matching funds from Shepherd University.