Monday, May 25, 2015

KENOSHA PIERHEAD LIGHTHOUSE-KENOSHA, WISCONSIN








In 1906, the original breakwater post light was replaced by an octagonal frame structure, surmounted by a lantern with a dome. The pierhead light also received a new structure in 1906 in the form of a metal tower topped by a fourth-order lantern. This tower was constructed of twelve circular sections with varying diameters to form a gently tapered lighthouse. On April 16, heavy seas created by a gale seriously damaged the funnel-style tower on the breakwater. The lakeside of the tower was crushed in and the opposite side was pushed out, leaving a large hole through the tower.  On May 24, 1906, the pierhead light was changed from a sixth-order, fixed red light to a fourth-order flashing white light with a period of fifteen seconds through the installation of the Fresnel lens from the discontinued Kenosha Lighthouse. In 1917, the north pier received a new concrete superstructure requiring all 1,040 linear feet of the elevated walkway to be taken down and re-erected.  The elevated walkway and fog signal structure disappeared from the north pier long ago, but the red cylindrical tower continues to serve as the primary light at Kenosha. A cylindrical D-9 tower was installed on the southern end of the breakwater in the 1960s. In June 2008, Kenosha Pierhead Lighthouse, deemed excess by the Coast Guard, was offered at no cost to eligible entities, including federal, state and local agencies, non-profit corporations, educational agencies, or community development organizations. After no qualified group stepped forward to assume responsibility for the lighthouse, it was placed on the General Services Administration auction website starting on October 18, 2010. Since the fifty-foot-tall cylindrical tower offers no living space and a potential owner would have to obtain a lease from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which owns the pier. A second auction for Kenosha Pierhead Lighthouse started on May 25, 2011 with a starting bid of $5,000. A bid for this amount was placed on June 17, and the auction closed on July 15 with a winning bid of $17,000.

 (Note: Quality of photographs were greatly weather affected by continuous rain while taking the photographs.)

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