In the post‐Apollo era, serious studies of lunar‐based observatories began at the first Lunar Bases Symposium held in Washington in 1984. This symposium generated several new and innovative proposals for telescopes on the Moon. Inspired by this first general symposium on lunar‐based activities, a workshop focused specifically on Future Astronomical Observatories on the Moon was held in Houston in 1986. The proceedings from this workshop began to build a case for lunar observatories by describing the considerable attributes of the lunar environment for astronomy. Proposed observatory concepts included x‐ray and gamma‐ray variability monitors, a large aperture optical/IR telescope, Arecibo‐style radio telescopes in lunar craters, and a Moon‐Earth radio interferometer. Studies of two proposed telescopes continued via workshops held in Albuquerque. The first, convened in 1988, was devoted to a Lunar Far‐Side Very Low Frequency Array. The second, held in 1989, was devoted to a long baseline optical‐uv‐IR synthesis array on the lunar surface. The proceedings from these workshops laid the foundation for more detailed investigations of lunar‐based astronomical telescopes.