North Point Light

The North Point Lighthouse Museum is a lighthouse built in 1888 in Lake Park on the East Side of Milwaukee in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States to mark the entrance to the Milwaukee River. The lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.[2][1] It was also added to the Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey as survey HABS WI-358.

This article is about the lighthouse in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. For the lighthouse in Queensland, Australia, see North Point Hummock Light. For the lighthouse in Prince Edward Island, Canada, see North Cape Light.
North Point Lighthouse Museum
North Point Lighthouse in Lake Park
LocationMilwaukee, Wisconsin
Coordinates43°03′56″N 87°52′17″W
Tower
FoundationConcrete
ConstructionCast Iron (1888) / Steel (1912)
Height74 feet (23 m)
ShapeOctagonal
HeritageNational Register of Historic Places listed place Edit this on Wikidata
Light
First lit1888
Deactivated1994
Focal height47 m (154 ft) Edit this on Wikidata
LensFourth order Fresnel lens
North Point Lighthouse Museum
Area2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built1888 (1888)
MPSU.S. Coast Guard Lighthouses and Light Stations on the Great Lakes TR
NRHP reference No.84003732[1]
Added to NRHPJuly 19, 1984

History

The first lighthouse on this bluff was built in 1855, a structure of Cream City brick with a cast iron lantern room, sited high to make it visible out on Lake Michigan. In the late 1880s it was jeopardized by erosion of the bluff and plans were made to replace it.[3]

In 1888 a 40-foot cast-iron lighthouse tower was built 100 feet in from the edge of the bluff, and the Queen Anne-style light keeper's quarters was built. The original 1855 lantern room was used on the new 1888 tower. Eventually trees in the park obstructed the light from the view of ships, so in 1912 the tower was dismantled and a riveted steel addition was erected and the original 1888 section was placed on top raising its height to 74 feet (23 m)[3] and light focal plane to 154 feet (47 m). Today, it is the only lighthouse in the country built of three separate lighthouses: the 1855, 1888, and 1912 ones.

The first 1888 lantern burned mineral oil. It was converted to coal gas in 1912 and electrified in 1929. The lens focused a 1,300,000 candlepower signal visible for 25 miles (40 km).[4] The Coast Guard decommissioned the lighthouse in 1994. In 2003 Milwaukee County leased the lighthouse and keepers quarters to the North Point Lighthouse Friends and they began restoration of the tower and keepers quarters. A $984,000 grant was used to restore the light station and it re-opened to the public as a maritime museum in 2007.[5]

  • 2012 photo
    2012 photo
  • Stairs to tower
    Stairs to tower
  • Plaque
    Plaque
  • USCG archive photo
    USCG archive photo
  • 2016 Aerial View
    2016 Aerial View
  • 2022 photo
    2022 photo

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. "North Point Lighthouse". Wisconsin Historical Society. January 2012. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
  3. Charles K. Hyde (1979-07-09). "HAER Inventory: North Point Lighthouse". Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
  4. United States Coast Guard, Milwaukee County Historical Society, sign by lighthouse
  5. Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Eastern Wisconsin". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Further reading
  • Havighurst, Walter (1943) The Long Ships Passing: The Story of the Great Lakes, Macmillan Publishers.
  • Oleszewski, Wes, Great Lakes Lighthouses, American and Canadian: A Comprehensive Directory/Guide to Great Lakes Lighthouses, (Gwinn, Michigan: Avery Color Studios, Inc., 1998) ISBN 0-932212-98-0.
  • Pepper, Terry. "Seeing the Light: Lighthouses on the western Great Lakes".
  • Sapulski, Wayne S., (2001) Lighthouses of Lake Michigan: Past and Present (Paperback) (Fowlerville: Wilderness Adventure Books) ISBN 0-923568-47-6; ISBN 978-0-923568-47-4.
  • Wright, Larry and Wright, Patricia, Great Lakes Lighthouses Encyclopedia Hardback (Erin: Boston Mills Press, 2006) ISBN 1-55046-399-3.
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