Michigan City East Light

Michigan City East Light

Michigan City Lighthouse
Location	Michigan City, Indiana
Coordinates	41°43′44″N 86°54′42″W / 41.729°N 86.9117°W / 41.729; -86.9117
Automated	1960[1]
Foundation	concrete pier
Construction	steel brick
Tower shape	octagonal on fog signal building[1]
Markings / pattern	white, lantern black; fog signal building roof red
Height	49 ft (15 m) tower[2]
Focal height	Focal plane - 50 feet (15 m)[3]
Original lens	Fifth Order Fresnel lens[1][4]
Current lens	rotating 2130C
Characteristic	Fog horn (2 blasts every 30 s).
ARLHS number	USA-493[5][6]
USCG number	7-19545
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:	1904
Governing body:	Local
NRHP Reference#:	74000023[7]
Added to NRHP:	November 05, 1974

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

This is the successor to the Old Michigan City Light, when the lantern, lens and light was moved to the new light at the end of the newly extended pier.^[8]

This is one of very few lights on the Great Lakes which still has the iron walkway atop the pier (see Manistee Pierhead lights and Grand Haven Light).^[9]

For 170 years there has a lighthouse in Michigan City. However, "most people in Indiana don’t realize there is a lighthouse in the state." Mayor Oberlie passes out lapel pins to illustrate its importance and scope. He calls Lake Michigan "the city’s crown jewel," which became prominent when he was city planner in the 1970s.^[10]

In May 2007, this aid to navigation was deemed excess by the Coast Guard. It was offered at no cost to eligible entities, including federal, state and local agencies, non-profit corporations, educational agencies, or community development organizations under the terms of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. "According to Mayor Chuck Oberlie, Michigan City filed a letter of interest for the lighthouse and will seek ownership."^[11]

It is one of a dozen past or present lighthouses in Indiana.^[12]

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 open every day except Mondays from 1 to 4 p.m.^[11]

Walkway to lighthouse

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} National Park Service, Maritime History Project, Inventory of Historic Lights, Michigan City Lights.
2. ^ Pepper, Terry. "Database of Tower Heights". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com. http://www.terrypepper.com/lights/lists/towers.htm. 
3. ^ Pepper, Terry. "Database of Focal Heights". Seeing the Light. terrypepper.com. http://www.terrypepper.com/lights/lists/focalheight.htm. 
4. ^ But see,"Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Indiana". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHIN.asp.  which indicates a Fourth Order Fresnel lens was original.
5. ^ "Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society, Michigan City East Pierhead (Lake Michigan) Light ARLHS USA-493". http://wlol.arlhs.com/lighthouse/USA493.html. 
6. ^ "Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society, World List of Lights.". http://arlhs.com/awards/U_list.html. 
7. ^ "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. 
8. ^ Wobser, Old Michigan City Lighthouse, at boatnerd.com.
9. ^ Pepper, Terry. "Michigan City Pierhead Light", Seeing the Light, 2005-01-08. Retrieved on 2009-05-24.
10. ^ Richards, Rick A. Michigan City's Love Affair With It's (sic) Lighthouse July, 2009, Lighthouse Digest.
11. ^ ^{a b} "Anderson, Kraig, Lighthouse friends, Michigan City Lighthouse.". http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=233. 
12. ^ 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. 

See also

• Lighthouses in the United States
• National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act

External links

Undated US Coast Guard archive photo

• National Park Service, Maritime History Project, Inventory of Historic Lights, Michigan City Lights.
• Satellite view at Google maps.

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).
• Richards, Rick A. Michigan City's Love Affair With It's (sic) Lighthouse July, 2009, Lighthouse Digest.
• 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. 

Further reading