Old Michigan City Light

Old Michigan City Light

Old Michigan City Lighthouse
Location	Michigan City, Indiana
Coordinates	41°43′22″N 86°54′22″W / 41.7227°N 86.9061°W / 41.7227; -86.9061
Year first lit	1858
Height	40 ft (12 m) tower[1]
Focal height	Focal plane - 60 feet (18 m)[2]
Original lens	Fifth Order Fresnel[3]
ARLHS number	USA-913[4][5]
Michigan City Lighthouse
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	Washington Park, Michigan City, Indiana
Coordinates:	41°43′22″N 86°54′21″W / 41.72278°N 86.90583°W / 41.72278; -86.90583Coordinates: 41°43′22″N 86°54′21″W / 41.72278°N 86.90583°W / 41.72278; -86.90583
Area:	1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built:	1858
Governing body:	Local
NRHP Reference#:	74000023[6]
Added to NRHP:	November 05, 1974

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

Built in 1858 at a cost of $8,000, this lighthouse, replaced an 1837 brick & stone light built at water's edge. 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]

Getting there

From I-94, take Highway 35 into Michigan City. Where Highway 35 intersects Highway 12, turn left on Highway 12 then right on Pine Street (which becomes Franklin Street after two blocks). After two blocks, which will lead you over a bridge to Lakeshore Drive where you will see the lighthouse to your left. The lighthouse is located in Washington Park. It is open every day except Mondays from 1 to 4 p.m.^[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. http://www.terrypepper.com/lights/lists/towers.htm. 
2. ^ Pepper, Terry. "Database of Focal Heights". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com. http://www.terrypepper.com/lights/lists/focalheight.htm. 
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.
6. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
7. ^ ^{a b} 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. http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/lighthouse/in.htm. 
10. ^ "Anderson, Kraig, Lighthouse friends, Michigan City Lighthouse.". http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=231. 

Specialized additional 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". http://www.terrypepper.com/lights/index.htm. 
• 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. http://clarke.cmich.edu/lighthouses/index.htm. 

External links

• Old Lighthouse Museum
• National Park Service, Maritime History Project, Inventory of Historic Lights, Michigan City Lights.
• Satelite view at Google maps.
• "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Indiana". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHIN.asp.