North Point Lighthouse
About this property
The North Point Lighthouse Museum is a lighthouse built in 1888 in Lake Park on the East Side of Milwaukee in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States to mark the entrance to the Milwaukee River. The lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. It was also added to the Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey as survey HABS WI-358. The first lighthouse on this bluff was built in 1855, a structure of Cream City brick with a cast iron lantern room, sited high to make it visible out on Lake Michigan. In the late 1880s it was jeopardized by erosion of the bluff and plans were made to replace it. In 1888 a 40-foot cast-iron lighthouse tower was built 100 feet in from the edge of the bluff, and the Queen Anne-style light keeper's quarters was built. The original 1855 lantern room was used on the new 1888 tower. Eventually trees in the park obstructed the light from the view of ships, so in 1912 the tower was dismantled and a riveted steel addition was erected and the original 1888 section was placed on top raising its height to 74 feet (23 m) and light focal plane to 154 feet (47 m). Today, it is the only lighthouse in the country built of three separate lighthouses: the 1855, 1888, and 1912 ones. The first 1888 lantern burned mineral oil. It was converted to coal gas in 1912 and electrified in 1929. The lens focused a 1,300,000 candlepower signal visible for 25 miles (40 km). The Coast Guard decommissioned the lighthouse in 1994. In 2003 Milwaukee County leased the lighthouse and keepers quarters to the North Point Lighthouse Friends and they began restoration of the tower and keepers quarters. A $984,000 grant was used to restore the light station and it re-opened to the public as a maritime museum in 2007. NPS Inventory of Historic Light Stations - Wisconsin Archived 2006-02-09 at the Wayback Machine Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey Survey number HABS WI-358 "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Wisconsin". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on May 1, 2017. North Point Light.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was North Point Lighthouse listed on the National Register?
North Point Lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 18, 1984.
What type of historic resource is North Point Lighthouse?
North Point Lighthouse is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for North Point Lighthouse?
The period of significance for North Point Lighthouse is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near North Point Lighthouse?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near North Point Lighthouse will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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