MARQUETTE HARBOR LIGHTHOUSE-MARQUETTE, MICHIGAN

The early importance of the harbor at Marquette is evidenced by the fact that it was marked by one of just a handful of lighthouses built on Lake Superior before the opening of the Soo Locks in 1855. Congress provided $5,000 for the lighthouse on September 28, 1850, and all but $25 of this sum was spent in its construction. The first lighthouse at Marquette was established on the point just north of the harbor in 1853 and consisted of a stone tower that stood twenty-six feet, eight inches tall and tapered from a diameter of ten feet, six inches at its base to six feet, five inches at its octagonal lantern room. A sixth-order Fresnel lens was being used in 1858 to produce a fixed white light, and a one-and-a-half-story stone dwelling was located nearby for the keeper. The stone tower and dwelling didn’t stand up well to the extreme weather of the Upper Peninsula, and in 1865 the Lighthouse Board submitted an estimate for “extensive repairs and renovations.” Congress provided $13,000 on April 7, 1866 for “repairs and renovations,” but during the following months a completely new lighthouse was constructed on the point. This second incarnation was built of yellow brick and consisted of a dwelling with a square tower centered in its lakeward-facing gable end. In 1870, a fourth-order Fresnel lens that illuminated an arc of 270° replaced the previous lens, which had an arc of just 180°. A ten-inch steam whistle was added to the station in 1874, and six years later it was joined by a duplicate whistle for increased reliability. The fog signal buildings were placed at a lower elevation nearer the lake and were linked to the dwelling by an elevated walkway. The number of hours the coal-fired steam whistle was in operation each year varied greatly. In 1887, the station’s whistle blew for a record 697 hours, or about eight percent of the time, while in 1904, it sounded for just 189 hours, or just two percent of the time. On average, the steam whistle was in operation 325 hours a year and consumed around twenty tons of coal. Work on a new brick fog signal building on the point commenced in 1911 and was completed the following year when a compressed-air siren was installed to replace the old steam fog whistles. The air compressors were changed from oil driven to electrically driven in 1922, and in 1941, a two-tone air diaphone took the place of the air siren. A radiobeacon was added to the station in 1928 as an additional aid for mariners navigating during thick weather. A new fourth-order Barbier, Benard, and Turenne Fresnel lens, which was equipped with four flash panels and produced a red flash every five seconds, replaced the station’s fixed lens in 1908. The following year, the illuminant used in the light’s lamp was changed from oil to incandescent oil vapor. The light source was changed to electricity in 1921. As the keepers of Marquette Lighthouse were also responsible for the light and fog signal on the nearby breakwater, the position of second keeper was added to the station in 1910. To provide more living space, a work crew arrived in 1910 and converted the old brick lighthouse into a duplex by increasing the height of its walls to create a full second story. The lighthouse received its now familiar red daymark in 1911 and an addition to its shoreward side in the 1950s.