![]() This view of south pier after 1907 shows reconstruction of elevated wooden walkway, rear range light (in foreground) and fog signal building with free standing steel tower housing the head light. It contained a steam-operated fog signal operated by two coal fed Marine boilers, which produced steam to sound the locomotive whistle used as a fog signal. ![]() This Queen Anne Victorian structure, unlike its two predecessors, was not placed on legs, thereby affording greater stability. This pre-1907 view of the south pier shows (from left to right) the steel tower, the tall range light (colored green in this hand tinted photo), and the watch tower in which the lighthouse keeper and his assistants stood watch in six hour shifts.ġ907 Steel Tower and Fog Signal Building: In 1907 the 12th Lighthouse District, which had federal jurisdiction over the lighthouse, designed and constructed a separate building, the basis of today’s lighthouse, to serve as a fog signal building. This August 1906 photo shows the heavy wooden timbers of the pier and the elevated wooden catwalk leading to the steel tower. The fish horn, however, was found insufficient to serve as a warning during fog. Note the wooden deck of the pier head.The steel tower was an obvious improvement not only could it better withstand severe weather, but, by raising the height of the light, it could be spotted by incoming vessels as far away as thirteen miles. This photo looks WNW past the formidable looking base of the steel tower toward the end of the north pier head. In 1901, when the harbor was finally finished, a breakwater was built and the wooden tower was replaced by a taller, steel structure which housed the lamp. When fog obscured the light, he signaled incoming boats by blowing an 18 inch fish horn often used on sailboats.ġ901 Freestanding steel tower: By the early 20th Century both the pier and the wooden lighthouse had taken a beating from the weather over the years. Then he climbed the interior ladder up to the ten-sided glass lantern room and lit the kerosene lamp inside the magnifying lens. The lighthouse keeper had to carry his lighted oil lamp along a catwalk, which extended from the watchtower on the shore out to the small completely enclosed lamp room in the lighthouse. There the lamps were cleaned, refueled, serviced, and stored when not in service. Below the ten-sided glassed in lantern room was a small lamp workroom, where the lamps, fuel and accessories necessary for maintaining the light were stored. The light tower structure was accessed by an elevated wooden catwalk which ran the length of the pier which extended straight out into Lake Michigan. The light was about 30 feet above lake level and contained a fifth order harbor light. Congress, with influence from Michigan’s Senator Ferry, appropriated $4,000.Ī rare photograph of the 1870 light. His efforts led to the construction of the first lighthouse tower on the south pier head in 1872 after the U.S. Albertus Van Raalte had started what would become a long and tedious process to see that the connection between Lake Michigan and Black Lake to improve the Holland harbor to allow for shipping and build a lighthouse for safety. Lake Michigan became part of the 12th Lighthouse District.Įvolution of the Holland Lighthouse: This sketch by Dan Aument shows the first lighthouse which was put into operation in 1870 (beware that many accounts incorrectly note that it was installed in 1872).ġ870 Wooden Light tower: Since 1847, Dr. ![]() The lighthouses fell into disrepair over the next 20 years, until 1852 when Congress (during the administration of Millard Fillmore) acted to create an autonomous Lighthouse Board which divided the U.S.A. The Holland Harbor Light and Fog Signal Buildingĭuring the Andrew Jackson administration in 1830, responsibility for the lighthouses was transferred to the Treasury Department.
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