St. Joseph North Pier Inner and Outer Lights

St. Joseph North Pier Inner Light
St. Joseph North Pier Outer Light
	Pictured in 2008
Location	St. Joseph / Benton Harbor, Michigan
Coordinates	42°06′58″N 86°29′36″W
Year first lit	Outer: 1906; Inner: 1907[1]
Foundation	Pier[1]
Construction	Outer: Cast iron; Inner: Steel[1]
Tower shape	Outer: Cylindrical; Inner: Octagonal[2]
Markings / pattern	Outer: Black/white; Inner:Red/black/white
Tower height	Outer: 35 feet (11 m); Inner: 57 feet (17 m)[1]
Focal height	Outer: 31 feet (9.4 m)[1]
Original lens	Outer: Fifth order Fresnel lens; Inner: Fourth order[1]
Range	Outer: 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi); Inner: 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi)[2]
Characteristic	Outer: Fl W 2.5s; Inner: Iso W 2s[2]
ARLHS number	Outer: USA-798; Inner: USA-797
USCG number	Outer: 7-19515; Inner: 7-19520[2]
Heritage	place listed on the National Register of Historic Places
	St. Joseph North Pier Inner and Outer Lights
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
NRHP reference No.	05001211[3]
Added to NRHP	November 9, 2005

The St. Joseph North Pier Inner and Outer Lights are lighthouses in Michigan at the entrance to the St. Joseph River on Lake Michigan. The station was built in 1832 with the current lights built in 1906 and 1907;[1][4] they were decommissioned in 2005.[5]

History

St. Joseph was first platted in 1829, and the first lighthouse at the site, located on shore, was built in 1832. Construction began on harbor piers in 1836, and by 1848 a beacon light had been established on the pier. The onshore lighthouse was replaced in 1859, and a new pierhead beacon was constructed on the south pier in 1870. In 1881, this beacon was transferred to the north pier. In 1897 a pole light was erected 400 feet shoreward to serve as a rear range light. In 1904, the pier was extended, and the range lights were moved lakeward. In 1906/07, the present set of range lights was constructed.[6]

The 1859 lighthouse remained in use until 1919, when a tower was erected on the south pier. It was demolished in 1955. In 2008, the north pier inner and outer range lights were deemed excess. Ownership of the lights was transferred to the city of St. Joseph in 2013. A committee was formed in 2014 which raised $2 million in private donations to fully restore the pier range lights.[6] The project to preserve the lighthouses was completed in 2016.[4][5]

Postage stamp

On June 17, 1995, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp depicting the lights as part of its Great Lakes Lighthouses series.[7]

Description

The front range tower is constructed of steel framing and covered with metal sheets. It is a conical tower that tapers from a diameter of eight feet, three inches at its base to seven feet, three inches at the top. It is topped by a nine-sided lantern room. The tower is equipped with a fifth-order Barbier and Benard lens that produced a fixed red light.[6] The entire structure is 30 feet tall.[8]

The rear tower is a square steel structure, 24 feet on a side, with a pyramidal roof.[6] On top of the roof is an octagonal tower, rising two stories above the main structure.[8] Atop the tower is a circular lantern room with helical bars, surrounded by a black iron parapet and walkway. The tower was originally equipped with a fourth-order lens manufactured by Chance Brothers that produced a fixed red light.[6] This lens was replaced at some point with a Fourth Order Fresnel lens manufactured by Sautter & Cie.[9] A catwalk extends from the second story of the lighthouse along the pier to the shoreline.[8] A smokestack was removed from the tower in 1949 and another was added in 2016.[10]

References

Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy. "St. Joseph Old Main Lighthouse". Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy.
Light List, Volume VII, Great Lakes (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard. 2016. p. 179.
National Park Service. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
Heibutzki, Ralph (June 5, 2016). "Project Complete, 'Smokestack and All'". The Herald-Palladium. St. Joseph, MI. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
Michigan State Housing Development Authority (March 15, 2016). "City and Citizens of St. Joseph Recognized for Saving St. Joseph Pier Lights" (Press release). Michigan State Housing Development Authority.
"St. Joseph Pier Lighthouse". Lighthouse Friends. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
National Postal Museum. "Great Lakes Lighthouses Issue: 32c St. Joseph Single". National Postal Museum.
"St. Joseph North Pier Lights". Lighthouses of Michigan. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
Terry Pepper. "St. Joseph Pier Lights". Seeing The Light. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
Matuszak, John (April 11, 2016). "Some Steamed over SJ Lighthouse Smokestack". The Herald-Palladium. St. Joseph, MI. Retrieved January 6, 2018.

Gallery

Postcard, c. 1940
Winter, 2004
Summer, 2004
Winter, 2010
Pier, 2008
Pier, 2008
Aerial view

External links

The Heritage Museum and Cultural Center. "St. Joe Lighthouse Tours".
Geographic Names Information System: Outer light Inner light

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[mlc-1] Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy. "St. Joseph Old Main Lighthouse". Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy.

[uscg7-2] Light List, Volume VII, Great Lakes (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard. 2016. p. 179.

[nris-3] National Park Service. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.

[hp20160605-4] Heibutzki, Ralph (June 5, 2016). "Project Complete, 'Smokestack and All'". The Herald-Palladium. St. Joseph, MI. Retrieved June 5, 2016.

[mshda-5] Michigan State Housing Development Authority (March 15, 2016). "City and Citizens of St. Joseph Recognized for Saving St. Joseph Pier Lights" (Press release). Michigan State Housing Development Authority.

[lhf-6] "St. Joseph Pier Lighthouse". Lighthouse Friends. Retrieved July 7, 2017.

[7] National Postal Museum. "Great Lakes Lighthouses Issue: 32c St. Joseph Single". National Postal Museum.

[lom-8] "St. Joseph North Pier Lights". Lighthouses of Michigan. Retrieved July 7, 2017.

[pepp-9] Terry Pepper. "St. Joseph Pier Lights". Seeing The Light. Retrieved July 7, 2017.

[hp20160411-10] Matuszak, John (April 11, 2016). "Some Steamed over SJ Lighthouse Smokestack". The Herald-Palladium. St. Joseph, MI. Retrieved January 6, 2018.

Lighthouses in Michigan
Main: List of lighthouses in the United States
Northern Upper Peninsula	Au Sable Big Bay Point Copper Harbor Copper Harbor Front Range Crisp Point Eagle Harbor Eagle Harbor Range Lights Eagle River Fourteen Mile Point Grand Island East Channel Grand Island Harbor Rear Range Grand Island North Grand Marais Range Lights Granite Island Gull Rock Huron Island Isle Royale Manitou Island Marquette Breakwater Outer Marquette Harbor Mendota (Bete Grise) Munising Front Range Munising Rear Range Ontonagon Ontonagon Harbor West Breakwater Portage River (Jacobsville) Passage Island Presque Isle Harbor Breakwater Light Rock Harbor Rock of Ages Sand Hills Sand Point Light (Baraga) St. Martin Island Stannard Rock Thunder Bay Island Whitefish Point
Southern Upper Peninsula	DeTour Reef Lansing Shoals Manistique East Breakwater Martin Reef Menominee Pier Minneapolis Shoal Naubinway Island Peninsula Point Poverty Island Sand Point Seul Choix Squaw Island St. Martin Island
St. Mary's River	Frying Pan Island Pipe Island Point Iroquois Round Island Light (St. Mary's River) Six Mile Point Range Rear Winter Point Range Front
Portage River/Ship Canal	Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance Keweenaw Waterway Upper Entrance Portage Lake Rouleau Point Range Front and Rear Lights
Straits of Mackinac	Bois Blanc McGulpin Point Old Mackinac Point Round Island Round Island Passage St. Helena Island Wawatam
Western Lower Peninsula	Beaver Island Harbor Beaver Island Head Big Sable Point Cedar River Charlevoix Charlevoix South Pier Frankfort Frankfort South Range Grand Haven North Pierhead Grand Haven South Pierhead Entrance Grand Haven South Pierhead Inner Grand Traverse Grays Reef Holland Harbor Ile Aux Galets Little Sable Point Little Traverse Ludington Manistee Pierhead Manning Memorial Mission Point Mission Point (1933) Muskegon Breakwater Muskegon Pier North Manitou Shoal Pentwater North Pierhead Pentwater South Pierhead Point Betsie Portage Lake South Fox Island South Haven South Manitou Island St. Joseph North Pier Inner St. Joseph North Pier Outer Waugoshance White River White Shoal
Eastern Lower Peninsula	Alpena Caseville Harbor Charity Island Cheboygan Crib Cheboygan River Front Range DeTour Reef Detroit River Fort Gratiot Forty Mile Point Fourteen Foot Shoal Gibraltar Gravelly Shoal Harbor Beach Lake St. Clair Mariners Memorial Middle Island Miller Memorial New Presque Isle Old Presque Isle Peche Island Rear Range Poe Reef Pointe aux Barques Port Austin Port Sanilac Saginaw Bay Saginaw River Rear Range Spectacle Reef St. Clair Flats Front and Rear Range Light Sturgeon Point Tawas Point Thunder Bay Island Tri-Centennial Light of Detroit William Livingstone Memorial Windmill Point
Historical (lost) lights	Au Sable North Pierhead Belle Isle Clinton River Ecorse Ecorse Range Rear Gibraltar Grassy Island Grassy Island North Channel Range Lights Grassy Island South Channel Range Lights Grosse Ile North Channel Range Lights Grosse Ile South Channel Range Lights Harwood Point East Range Front Kalamazoo River Mama Juda Mama Juda Range Front Manistee Main Middle Lake George Monroe Pier New Buffalo North Manitou Island Saginaw Bay Sand Beach North Entrance East Squaw Point St. Mary's River Lower Range Front Vidal Shoals Channel Range Front and Rear Lights Windmill Point Range Front and Rear Lights
Related	Lightship Huron List of lifesaving stations in Michigan Wixom Lake, Musselman Island lighthouse