SOUTH HAVEN SOUTH PIER LIGHTHOUSE/SOUTH HAVEN, MICHIGAN

 

Plans for a metal tower to replace the old wooden one were prepared in 1902, and in October of the following year, a ten-man crew arrived aboard the USLHS tender Hyacinth to erect the cylindrical tower and remove the wooden one. The circular tower has a diameter of eleven feet, six inches at its base, and tapers to ten feet at its nine-sided lantern room. The tower stands just over thirty-six feet tall, and consists of steel plates covering metal lath. Originally painted white, the tower was equipped with six porthole windows to light its interior and has two doors, one at ground level and an upper one that can be accessed by the catwalk. The light in the metal tower was first exhibited on November 13, 1903. The hand-operated horn was replaced on September 18, 1913 by a 1,200-pound bell, sounded by an electrical striking apparatus. In 1916, a fifty-foot, white, skeletal tower was placed 267 yards shoreward of the pierhead light to form a range to assist mariners in entering the harbor. The characteristic of both of the range lights was fixed red. The inner range light was removed from the pier sometime after 1960.  In 1923, the illuminant for the South Haven Range Lights was changed from oil to electric, and at that time, two electric flood lights were installed on the outer tower, just below the lantern room, to illuminate a triangular, pyramidal daymark located on the north pier. Mariners remarked that the floodlights were helpful in defining the entrance between the piers, which had a width of 165 feet.  On March 25, 1937, an air diaphone, sounding a group of two blasts every thirty seconds, replaced the tower’s fog bell. A light was established on the outer end of the north pier in 1949. The elevated metal walkway that leads to the tower was relocated from Calumet Lighthouse in Illinois and installed on the pier in 1925. In 1989, the South Haven Lighthouse and Catwalk Preservation Committee launched fundraising efforts to preserve the tower and catwalk that were threatened by budget cuts. The group’s goal was to raise $60,000 for the catwalk, of which $33,000 would be used to restore the structure and add lighting, and the remaining $27,000 would be held in a trust for perpetual maintenance. The catwalk is owned by the Corps of Engineers and licensed to the City of South Haven, who also pays the electric bills for lighting the catwalk. In 2003, the Michigan Maritime Museum assumed stewardship of the catwalk by accepting the funds raised by the preservation committee. A Notice of Availability, dated June 28, 2010, announced that South Haven South Pierhead Light was excess to the needs of the United States Coast Guard and would be “made available at no cost to eligible entities defined as Federal agencies, state and local agencies, non-profit corporations, educational agencies, or community development organizations for educational, park, recreational, cultural or historic preservation purposes.” Qualifying organizations were given sixty days to submit a letter of interest. On October 4, 2011, U.S. Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow announced that three Michigan lighthouses, South Haven Pierhead Lighthouse, Middle Island Lighthouse, and Waugoshance Lighthouse, would be transferred from the U.S. Coast Guard to local preservation groups. South Haven Pierhead Lighthouse was awarded to the Historical Association of South Haven. A ceremony for the official transfer of the deed was held on August 9, 2012.