The first lighthouse in
Chicago was built in 1831. It was located on the south bank of the
Chicago River just to the west of fort Dearborn. Built entirely of
stone, the tower was poorly constructed, falling to the ground as
construction was nearing completion. The illustration below is from from Harpers
Magazine and shows the lighthouse as it appeared soon after completion.
As
the city of Chicago and the number of vessels entering and departing
the river grew through 1850’s, protective piers were established at the
mouth of the river, effectively relocating the river entry considerably
farther to the north of the lighthouse. Now located considerably inland
from the new entry point, and frequently enshrouded with smoke from the
numerous factories in the area, it is no surprise that old lighthouse
was no longer serving as an effective leading light into the river. The 1856 photograph below is the only known photograph of the old Chicago River
light, and gives a sense of the growing industrialization around it.
In
1847, a temporary beacon was erected on the North pier to assist
mariners locating the harbor entrance. Finally, in September 1851,
District Engineer J. D Webster supervised the driving of a network of
piles and the sinking of a 47-foot square crib foundation atop them at
the end of the pier to serve as a base for a new, improved lighthouse.
Work quickly ground to a halt as a result of a lack of funding, and the
lighthouse structure itself was not completed until 1858. The location
of the lighthouse and detached dwelling are readily visible in the wonderful 1868 “birds eye” illustration of the Chicago harbor below.
The
tower of the new Chicago lighthouse consisted of an iron central stair
cylinder supported by eight iron legs with a network of intermediate
cast iron bracing and turnbuckles. Standing seventy two five feet above
the surface of the crib the Third Order lens in the lantern stood at a
focal plane of 83 feet, and was visible for a distance of fifteen miles.
A detached dwelling stood shoreward of the tower, and was connected to
the bottom of the central stair cylinder by an elevated covered way,
which is ready visible in the following single side of a stereo view photograph
of the structure.
The
Federal government continued to extend the piers which protected the
Chicago River, and by 1870 the 83’ tall skeletal iron tower was located
1,200 feet from the end of the north pier. With increasing
industrialization, the smoke which shrouded the city on a daily basis
had worsened, and with no respite in sight, Eleventh District Lighthouse
Engineer Orlando Metcalfe Poe recommended that the leading
light for Chicago be relocated to Grosse Point, in Evanston some 13
miles to the north. The State of Illinois consented to the transfer of
land to the federal government in 1871 and the new lighthouse shown below under construction was built on Grosse Point in 1873 and lighted for
the first time on the night of March 1, 1874.
With
the Grosse Point lighthouse serving as the primary leading light
guiding mariners toward the Chicago River after 1874, and a pair of
small beacon lights marking the outer ends of the two piers, the 1870
skeletal iron tower now served only as a minor marker for vessels
entering the river. As can be seen in the following 1885 photograph, the dwelling
had been removed and a long stairway added to provide
access to the tower from the pier surface. Work was also underway on
the construction of a 4,000 foot long breakwater to better protect the
river entry and create a 455 acre contained harbor, and with plans to
place a major light at the opening in this new breakwater on its
completion, the days of the old skeletal iron Chicago River tower on the
north pier were numbered.
160
miles north of Chicago, 11th District Lighthouse Engineer Orlando
Metcalfe Poe oversaw the construction of a new light station on Twin
River Point in 1873. The lighthouse was built to the same plan as
lighthouses at Little Point Au Sable on Lake Michigan and Au Sable Point
and Outer Island on Lake Superior. The new lighthouse took the form of a
“hundred foot” tower of Cream City Brick with a hip-roofed
dwelling of the same material attached to the tower by a covered way.
Work at Twin River Point progressed through 1874, with the station’s
Third Order lens exhibited for the first time on the night of November
18, 1874. The 1884 photograph below, courtesy of the Woodward Collection, is
the only known photo of this original Twin River Point lighthouse.
Contracts
for lighthouse construction under the administration of the Lighthouse
Board were issued under the “lowest bid” system. As such, any sub
contracts issued by contractors for materials were also obtained as
cheaply as possible, and it appears that in order to save cost, the
Cream City Brick used by the contractor in the Twin River Point tower
lighthouse was of terrible quality, containing a
high percentage of inclusions and poorly fired during its manufacture.
Moisture entering the bricks degraded the masonry as a result of the
annual freeze/thaw cycle to the point that by 1890 consideration was
being given to razing and rebuilding the entire tower of a more
substantial masonry material. By way of example, this photograph of a
section of the exterior of the Old Mackinac Point lighthouse shows how
such inferior bricks degrade in this manner.
Meanwhile, back
in Chicago, with work on the new breakwater nearing completion in 1890,
work was underway on the construction of a major new light to mark the
entrance to the harbor at the split in the breakwater. Known as the
Chicago Harbor Light, the new structure is shown in this 1914
photograph. The structure took the form of free-standing crib with a 59
½-foot conical cast iron tower located at its center and flanked by a
pair of corrugated iron fog signal buildings. Simultaneous with the
first exhibition of its light on the night of November 10, 1893, the
light in the old skeletal iron Chicago River light was permanently
extinguished. However, the life of the old 1858 lighthouse was far from
over….
With
the old Chicago River light no longer serving as an active aid to
navigation, and a new tower needed at Twin River Point, District
Lighthouse Engineer Milton B. Adams drew up a plan to modify the old
Chicago tower for use at Twin River Point. A portion of Adams’ plan for
this modification appears below. The statement “Project for enlarging
the present Chicago River Tower, making 100 feet to focal plane” can
clearly be seen at the upper left.
In
the winter of 1893/1894, District Engineer Milton B Adams awarded a
contract to the Vulcan Iron Works in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to cast
the new iron components required to increase the height of the old
Chicago River lighthouse from seventy-two feet in height to 100 feet.
Work in disassembling the lighthouse commenced on June 7, 1894, and by
the end of the month, the entire lighthouse had been
reduced to its individual components, which were boxed and bundled for
shipment to Twin River Point. The lighthouse tender AMARANTH arrived in
Chicago in late August with the new components from Vulcan Iron Works on
board and the packaged components from the old lighthouse were loaded
on her decks and she steamed north to deliver them to Twin River Point.
On
a site approximately fifty feet to the west of the Twin River Point dwelling, a construction
crew had completed excavations was pouring concrete foundations for the
eight columns of the old Chicago River tower. By the end of September
1894 the refurbished metal work of the first section had been erected.
Over October, 166,000 pounds of iron had been erected, reaching the
upper part of the fourth story, completing the structure to the main
gallery deck. In November the service room, watch room and lantern were
erected, and the illuminating apparatus transferred from the old brick
tower into the lantern. Erection of the refurbished skeleton iron tower
at Twin River Point was completed on December 1, 1894.
Since
duplicate 10” fog signals had been established at Twin River Point in
1890, three keepers were now crammed into a dwelling originally designed
to accommodate a single keeper and his family. In January 1895,
District Engineer Adams oversaw the preparation of plans,
specifications, and estimates for modifying the keepers dwelling and the
removal of the old brick tower at Twin River Point, and submitted
them to the Lighthouse Board in Washington for approval. As seen in
the north elevation of his plans below, Adams' design called for an extensive
modification and enlargement of the dwelling to incorporate the lower
portion of the shortened tower, using the space within the tower as
additional accommodations. After receiving Board approval to proceed
with the project, the lighthouse tender AMARANTH again returned to Twin
River Point, landing a construction crew and all necessary materials at
the point on April 10, 1895.
As
can be seen in the following “before and after” photographs to the left and
right, Engineer Adam's modification and enlargement of the dwelling at
Twin River Point was extensive. However as seen in the center image, the
heritage of the original 1874 dwelling are still visible if you know
the attributes to look for.
The following photograph of the Twin River light station was taken in 1895,
immediately after the dwelling modifications were completed. Re-erected
and elevated to its new height on Twin River Point, the old Chicago
River lighthouse tower now stood at a height of 111 feet from its
foundation to the lantern vent, making the Twin River Point lighthouse
the tallest shore light on the Great Lakes, an honor it continues to
hold to this day.
