Manitou Island Light Station

Manitou Island Light
	Undated USCG photo of the station
Location	Manitou Island, Michigan
Coordinates	47°25′11″N 87°35′14″W / 47.41972°N 87.58722°W
Tower
Constructed	1850
Construction	Iron
Automated	1978
Height	42.5 feet (13.0 m)
Shape	Skeletal with central column
Markings	White
Heritage	National Register of Historic Places listed place
Light
First lit	1862
Focal height	25 m (82 ft)
Lens	Third order Fresnel lens (original), 12-volt solar powered 7.5-inch (190 mm) acrylic optic (current)
Characteristic	Fl W 10s
	Manitou Island Light Station
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Copper Harbor, Michigan
Built	1861
MPS	U.S. Coast Guard Lighthouses and Light Stations on the Great Lakes TR
NRHP reference No.	84001773
Added to NRHP	July 19, 1984

The Manitou Island Light Station is a lighthouse located on Manitou Island, off the tip of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula in Lake Superior. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.^[1]

Description

The Manitou Island Light Station consists of a skeletal steel light tower with associated keeper's house,^[2] outbuildings, and various walkways and foundations.^[3] The tower base measures 26 feet (7.9 m) square at the base and is 17.5 feet (5.3 m) high.^[2] The base supports a 42.5 feet (13.0 m) high skeletal tower, atop which is a cast iron ten-sided watch room and ten-sided lantern.^[2] A circular staircase covered with iron and lined with wood provides access to the watchtower.^[2] The original lens was a Third Order Fresnel Made by Le Paute of Paris and had six separate panels, each with a bull's eye prism.^[2] The current lens is also a Third Order Fresnel, with four panels inscribed P. Barbier and Co., Paris.^[2]

The keeper's house is a ten-room, two-story frame structure on a stone foundation.^[3] It is sided with asbestos shingles (likely from the 1930s) and shingled with asphalt.^[3] The interior still has some original doors and woodwork, but much of the wall material and flooring are modern additions.^[3]

History

The first lighthouse on Manitou Island was a rubble-stone tower^[3] built in 1850.^[2] In 1861, the current light replaced it (one of three built that year with iron structure by the West Point Foundry in New York;^[4] the other two were De Tour Reef and Whitefish Point lights, the latter of which still stands and it and Manitou are the oldest iron skeletal light towers on the Great Lakes); the keeper's house was built the same year.^[2] A fog signal was added in 1871, and buildings to house it in 1875. These signals were refurbished in 1899.^[5] In 1895, an oil house was added, in 1901 a boathouse, and in 1930 a concrete fog signal building was constructed, replacing the earlier one.^[3] It is the oldest iron skeletal light tower on the Great Lakes.^[2]

The light was automated in 1978, and is still in use as a navigational aid.^[6] In 2004, the Keweenaw Land Trust acquired the light from the United States Government, along with surrounding land,^[3] under the auspices of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.^[7] The area is open to the public, and is available for camping, rock collecting, hiking, boating, sea kayaking, fishing, and sightseeing.^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Manitou Island Light Station Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine form the state of Michigan, retrieved 8/19/09
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g NATIONAL HISTORIC LIGHTHOUSE PRESERVATION ACT APPLICATION TO OBTAIN LIGHT STATION PROPERTY Archived 2008-08-28 at the Wayback Machine, Keweenaw Land Trust, Inc
^ "Marine Intelligence". The Buffalo Commercial: 3. 22 Mar 1861. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
^ Terry Pepper, Manitou Island Lighthouse, Seeing the Light
^ "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Michigan". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
^ ^a ^b Manitou Island Light Station Preserve from the Keweenaw Land Trust, retrieved 8/19/09

External links

Keweenaw Land Trust
NATIONAL HISTORIC LIGHTHOUSE PRESERVATION ACT APPLICATION TO OBTAIN LIGHT STATION PROPERTY Archived 2008-08-28 at the Wayback Machine, Keweenaw Land Trust, Inc (includes multiple pictures, exterior and interior)
Manitou Island Lighthouse from the Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy

[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.

[state-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Manitou Island Light Station Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine form the state of Michigan, retrieved 8/19/09

[kw-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g NATIONAL HISTORIC LIGHTHOUSE PRESERVATION ACT APPLICATION TO OBTAIN LIGHT STATION PROPERTY Archived 2008-08-28 at the Wayback Machine, Keweenaw Land Trust, Inc

[WPF-4] "Marine Intelligence". The Buffalo Commercial: 3. 22 Mar 1861. Retrieved 24 February 2019.

[pepper-5] Terry Pepper, Manitou Island Lighthouse, Seeing the Light

[cg-6] "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Michigan". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01. Retrieved August 19, 2009.

[klt-7] Manitou Island Light Station Preserve from the Keweenaw Land Trust, retrieved 8/19/09

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v t e Lighthouses in Michigan
Main: List of lighthouses in the United States
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 Presque Isle Harbor Breakwater Light 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 Wawatam
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 Waugoshance White River White Shoal
Eastern Lower Peninsula	Alpena Caseville Harbor Charity Island Cheboygan Crib Cheboygan River Front Range 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 Wixom Lake, Musselman Island lighthouse

v t e National Register of Historic Places in Keweenaw County, Michigan
Historic districts	Central Mine Historic District Eagle River Historic District Fort Wilkins Johns Hotel Keweenaw Mountain Lodge and Golf Course Complex Minong Traditional Cultural Property Minong Mine Historic District Tobin Harbor Historic District
Historic properties	SS Algoma SS America (1898) Brockway Mountain Drive Central Mine Methodist Church SS Chester A. Congdon Church of the Assumption Copper Harbor Light PS Cumberland Eagle Harbor Coast Guard Station Boathouse Eagle Harbor Light Eagle Harbor Schoolhouse Edisen Fishery SS Emperor USS Puritan (ID-2222) SS Glenlyon Gull Rock Light Station SS Henry Chisholm Holy Redeemer Church Houghton County Traction Company Ahmeek Streetcar Station Ishpeming Fire Tower Isle Royale Light SS Kamloops M-26–Cedar Creek Culvert M-26–Silver River Culvert Manitou Island Light Station SS Monarch New Feldtmann Fire Tower Ojibway Fire Tower Passage Island Light Rock Harbor Light Rock of Ages Light Sand Hills Light US 41–Fanny Hooe Creek Bridge
See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in Keweenaw County, Michigan and List of National Historic Landmarks in Michigan