Grand Marais Harbor of Refuge Inner and Outer Lights

Grand Marais Harbor of Refuge Inner and Outer Lights

Outer range light
Location	West pier at entry to Grand Marais Harbor of Refuge, Grand Marais, Michigan
Coordinates	46°41′2″N 85°58′20″W / 46.68389°N 85.97222°W / 46.68389; -85.97222Coordinates: 46°41′2″N 85°58′20″W / 46.68389°N 85.97222°W / 46.68389; -85.97222
Year first constructed	1895[1]
Year first lit	1895
Foundation	concrete pier[1][2]
Construction	steel (outer)[1] and cast iron (inner)[2]
Tower shape	skeletal[1]
Height	55 feet (17 m) (inner) and 34 feet (10 m) (outer)[2]
Focal height	53 feet (16 m) (inner),[2] 40 feet (12 m) (outer)[3]
Original lens	Fifth order Fresnel lens(inner)[2]
Current lens	Fifth order Fresnel lens(inner),[2] modern acrylic lens (outer)[4]
Range	14 nautical miles; 26 kilometres (16 mi) (inner),7.8 nautical miles; 14 kilometres (9 mi) (outer)[3]
Characteristic	F W (inner), FI W 2.5s (outer)[3]
ARLHS number	USA-1079, USA-1080[5]
USCG number	7-14560 (inner), 7-14550 (outer)[3]
Grand Marais Harbor of Refuge Inner and Outer Lights
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Area	less than one acre
MPS	Light Stations of the United States MPS
NRHP Reference #	12000254[6]
Added to NRHP	May 2, 2012

The Grand Marais Harbor of Refuge Inner and Outer Lights are a pair of lighthouses located on the west pier at the entry to Grand Marais Harbor of Refuge, in Grand Marais, Michigan. They were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.^[6]

History: Harbor and light construction

Inner range light

Keeper's house

Map pf Grand Marais Harbor

In the 1870s, shipping traffic through Lake Superior increased tremendously.^[4] Realizing the lack of a safe harbor between Whitefish Bay and Grand Island, the Army Corps of Engineers began upgrading the harbor at Grand Marais in 1881. Over the next ten years, the Corps dredged the harbor and constructed a 5,770 feet (1,760 m) timber pile breakwater stretching across the harbor. A shipping channel was dredged into the harbor, and two timber crib piers 700 feet (210 m) long were built to each side of the channel.^[4][7] These piers were extended one section at a time.^[7]

As the work on the harbor neared completion, the Lighthouse Board decided that navigation into the harbor would be improved by the addition or a light and fog signal on the head of the western pier.^[4] They requested funding for a light in 1892, and Congress allocated funds in 1895. The Board quickly drew up plans and awarded contracts to build a prefabricated light, and the new tower light was in place by November 1895. A fog signal originally located at the Point Iroquois Light was transferred to Grand Marais, and no keeper's quarters were built, causing the project to be significantly under budget (although the keeper was reduced to living in a "temporary" shanty).^[4]

Realizing that the addition of a rear range light would improve navigation, the Lighthouse Board requested that the unused funds be re-appropriated toward constructing a second light.^[4] Congress agreed in 1897, and by 1898 the second light was fabricated and installed at the inner end of the pier.^[4]

Later History

In 1905, the west pier was extended 612 feet (187 m), and the following year the front range light was moved to the new pierhead.^[4] In 1908, a keeper's quarters was finally constructed. As larger vessels began traveling in the Great Lakes, the Grand Marais harbor decreased in importance, and in the 1940s the Corps of Engineers stopped maintaining the breakwater. It quickly rotted away, allowing sand to fill the harbor.

Around the same time, the Coast Guard took over the operation of the lights.^[8] In the 1960s and 70s, portions of the pier the lights sat on were capped with concrete. In addition, the west pier was lengthened by 802 feet (244 m) by the addition of a cellular sheet pile extension.^[7] Keepers stayed in the keeper's quarters until 1982; in 1984, the Grand Marais Historical Society received and restored the house.^[8]

Both range lights are still operational, and although the lantern in the outer range light has been replaced with a modern acrylic lens,^[4] the inner range light retains its Fresnel lens,^[2] one of the few Fresnel lenses still in use in lighthouses.^[9] The lightkeeper's house is operated as a museum.^[8]

Description

The Grand Marais Harbor Inner and Outer lights area pair of lighthouses located on the Grand Marais pier, 2,610 feet (800 m) apart.^[10] Both are prefabricated skeletal iron or steel structures painted white and bolted to the pier.^[4] The outer light is 34 feet (10 m) tall and the inner light is 55 feet (17 m) tall.^[2]

References

Lighthouses in Michigan
Northern Upper Peninsula	Au Sable Big Bay Point Copper Harbor Copper Harbor Front Range Crisp Point Eagle Harbor Eagle Harbor Range Lights Eagle River Fourteen Mile Point Grand Island East Channel Grand Island Harbor Rear Range Grand Island North Grand Marais Range Lights Granite Island Gull Rock Huron Island Isle Royale Manitou Island Marquette Breakwater Outer Marquette Harbor Mendota (Bete Grise) Munising Front Range Munising Rear Range Ontonagon Ontonagon Harbor West Breakwater Portage River (Jacobsville) Passage Island Rock Harbor Rock of Ages Sand Hills Sand Point Light (Baraga) St. Martin Island Stannard Rock Thunder Bay Island Whitefish Point
Southern Upper Peninsula	DeTour Reef Lansing Shoals Manistique East Breakwater Martin Reef Menominee Pier Minneapolis Shoal Naubinway Island Peninsula Point Poverty Island Sand Point Seul Choix Squaw Island St. Martin Island
St. Mary's River	Frying Pan Island Pipe Island Point Iroquois Round Island Light (St. Mary's River) Six Mile Point Range Rear Winter Point Range Front
Portage River/Ship Canal	Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance Keweenaw Waterway Upper Entrance Portage Lake Rouleau Point Range Front and Rear Lights
Straits of Mackinac	Bois Blanc McGulpin Point Old Mackinac Point Round Island Round Island Passage St. Helena Island
Western Lower Peninsula	Beaver Island Harbor Beaver Island Head Big Sable Point Cedar River Charlevoix Charlevoix South Pier Frankfort Frankfort South Range Grand Haven North Pierhead Grand Haven South Pierhead Entrance Grand Haven South Pierhead Inner Grand Traverse Grays Reef Holland Harbor Ile Aux Galets Little Sable Point Little Traverse Ludington Manistee Pierhead Manning Memorial Mission Point Mission Point (1933) Muskegon Breakwater Muskegon Pier North Manitou Shoal Pentwater North Pierhead Pentwater South Pierhead Point Betsie Portage Lake South Fox Island South Haven South Manitou Island St. Joseph North Pier Inner St. Joseph North Pier Outer South Manitou Island Waugoshance White River White Shoal
Eastern Lower Peninsula	Alpena Caseville Harbor Charity Island Cheboygan Crib Cheboygan River Front Range DeTour Reef Detroit River Fort Gratiot Forty Mile Point Fourteen Foot Shoal Gibraltar Gravelly Shoal Harbor Beach Lake St. Clair Mariners Memorial Middle Island Miller Memorial New Presque Isle Old Presque Isle Peche Island Rear Range Poe Reef Pointe aux Barques Port Austin Port Sanilac Saginaw Bay Saginaw River Rear Range Spectacle Reef St. Clair Flats Front and Rear Range Light Sturgeon Point Tawas Point Thunder Bay Island Tri-Centennial Light of Detroit William Livingstone Memorial Windmill Point
Historical (lost) lights	Au Sable North Pierhead Belle Isle Clinton River Ecorse Ecorse Range Rear Gibraltar Grassy Island Grassy Island North Channel Range Lights Grassy Island South Channel Range Lights Grosse Ile North Channel Range Lights Grosse Ile South Channel Range Lights Harwood Point East Range Front Kalamazoo River Mama Juda Mama Juda Range Front Manistee Main Middle Lake George Monroe Pier New Buffalo North Manitou Island Saginaw Bay Sand Beach North Entrance East Squaw Point St. Mary's River Lower Range Front Vidal Shoals Channel Range Front and Rear Lights Windmill Point Range Front and Rear Lights
Related	Lightship Huron List of lifesaving stations in Michigan