Chambers Island Lighthouse, Door County, Wisconsin
CHAMBERS ISLAND LIGHT
Location: MIDDLE OF GREEN BAY/LAKE MICHIGAN
Station Established: 1868
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1868
Operational? NO
Automated? YES 1961
Deactivated: 1961
Foundation Materials: CONCRETE
Construction Materials: BRICK
Tower Shape: OCTAGONAL W/OUT LANTERN
Markings/Pattern: YELLOW
Relationship to Other Structure: ATTACHED
Original Lens: FOURTH ORDER
HISTORICAL INFORMATION:
- In 1866 Congress approved funds for a light on Chambers Island.
- In 1867 the government purchased 40 acres of land and a lighthouse with keeper’s quarters was built. The light was first lit in 1868.
- A new rotating fourth order Fresnel lens was installed in 1899. Prior to that it had been a fourth order Fresnel with a fixed flashing signal.
- In 1910 electric light bulbs powered by a generator were installed. In 1926 this was switched to an acetylene system. Later still solar power was used to power the light.
- In 1951 a skeletal tower was erected and the lantern and lens were removed. In 1961 the light was moved to a taller skeletal tower increasing its range to 12 miles. The location of the lens is unknown.
- The station had been heavily vandalized in the 1960 after it was abandoned. Local interest was raised and the site was restored. In 1976 the station was transferred to the town of Gibralter and in 1977 the site became a park.
Researched and written by Anne Puppa, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.