Old Michigan City Light

The Old Michigan City Light is a decommissioned lighthouse located in the harbor of Michigan City, Indiana.

Old Michigan City Light

Old Michigan City Lighthouse
Location	Washington Park, Michigan City, Indiana
Coordinates	41°43′22″N 86°54′21″W
Year first lit	1858
Deactivated	1904
Tower height	40 ft (12 m)[1]
Focal height	60 feet (18 m)[2]
Original lens	Fifth Order Fresnel[3]
ARLHS number	USA-913[4][5]
Heritage	place listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Michigan City Lighthouse
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Area	1 acre (0.40 ha)
NRHP reference No.	74000023[6]
Added to NRHP	November 5, 1974

Built in 1858 at a cost of $8,000, this lighthouse, replaced an 1837 brick & stone light built at the edge of Lake Michigan. It was the second light at the site, and the predecessor to the Michigan City East Light, to which the lantern, lens and light were moved in 1904; it being the new light at the end of the newly extended pier.[7]

It was remodeled in 1904. Seven Lighthouse keepers and fourteen assistant keepers served here from 1837-1940.[8]

A fourth order Fresnel lens is on display.[7]

It is one of a dozen past or present lighthouses in Indiana.[9]

Location

The lighthouse is located in Washington Park. It is open every day except Mondays from 1 to 4 p.m., except in winter.[10]

See also

• Lighthouses in the United States
• National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act

References

1. Pepper, Terry. "Database of Tower Heights". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com. Archived from the original on 2000-09-18. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
2. Pepper, Terry. "Database of Focal Heights". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com. Archived from the original on 2008-08-30. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
3. National Park Service, Maritime History Project, Inventory of Historic Lights, Michigan City Lights.
4. Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society, Old Michigan City (Lake Michigan) Light ARLHS USA-913
5. Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society, World List of Lights. Archived 2009-04-21 at the Wayback Machine
6. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
7. Wobser, David, Old Michigan City Lighthouse, at boatnerd.com.
8. Sign posted by lighthouse
9. Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of the United States: Indiana". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
10. "Anderson, Kraig, Lighthouse friends, Michigan City Lighthouse".

Further reading

• Andreas, A.T. (1884) History of Chicago from the Earliest Period to the Present Time,
• Chicago's Front Door, Chicago Public Library Digital Collection, website.
• Chicago, Scribner's Monthly (September 1875) Vol. X, No. 5.
• Graham, Charlote, Another Step into History at Old Michigan City Light (August, 2003) Lighthouse Digest.
• Harris, Patricia. Michigan City: Indiana's Only Lighthouse. The Keeper's Log (Spring, 1987), pp. 22–25.
• Hyde, Charles K., and Ann and John Mahan. (1995) The Northern Lights: Lighthouses of the Upper Great Lakes. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-2554-8 ISBN 978-0-8143-2554-4.
• Havighurst, Walter (1943) The Long Ships Passing: The Story of the Great Lakes, Macmillan Publishers.
• Karamanski, T. Ed., Historic Lighthouses and Navigational Aids of the Illinois Shore of Lake Michigan Loyola University & Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, (1989).
• Longstreet, Stephen (1973) Chicago 1860-1919 (New York: McKay).
• Lopez, Victor. "This Old Lighthouse: Chicago Harbor Beacon Gets a Facelift." Coast Guard (September, 1997), pp. 24–25.
• Mayer, Harold M. (1957) The Port of Chicago University of Chicago Press.
• Pepper, Terry. "Seeing the Light: Lighthouses on the western Great Lakes".
• Rice, Mary J., Chicago: Port to the World (Follet Publishers, 1969).
• 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.
• Wagner, John L. "Beacons Shining in the Night: The Lighthouses of Michigan". Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University.

External links

• Old Lighthouse Museum
• National Park Service, Maritime History Project, Inventory of Historic Lights, Michigan City Lights.
• Satellite view at Google maps.
• "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Indiana". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.