Port Pontchartrain Lighthouse

Oct. 7, 2019
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Port Pontchartrain Lighthouse, Port Pontchartrain, formerly named Milneburg, New Orleans, Louisiana

Originally built 1839.

PORT PONTCHARTRAIN LIGHT

Location: LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN 
Station Established: 1832 
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1855 
Operational? NO 
Automated? NO 
Deactivated: 1929 
Foundation Materials: CONCRETE PAD ON PILINGS 
Construction Materials: BRICK 
Tower Shape: HOURGLASS W/OCTAGONAL LANTERN 
Markings/Pattern: WHITE W/RED LANTERN 
Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE 
Original Lens: FIFTH ORDER FRESNEL 1857 

Historical Information:

  • 1832 – Local railroad company erected a private lighthouse. The structure was a square lantern hoisted between two channels at a height of 50’.
  • 1834 – Congress appropriated $5,000 for a new 20’ high light. The railroad preferred the 50’ and suggested that the government buy their light rather than building another. Nothing happened for several years.
  • 1837 – Congress approved $25,000 for a lighthouse and other aids to navigation at Port Pontchartrain.
  • 1839 – Octagonal wooden tower completed at a cost of $4400.
  • 1854 – Congress once again approved monies for a new lighthouse. This time, $6,000 was allocated.
  • 1855 – Current lighthouse constructed atop a concrete pad on pilings.
  • 1857 – 5th order Fresnel lens installed.
  • 1864 – Old wooden tower torn down.
  • 1880 – Lighthouse raised 7’ and new lantern installed. As a result, the focal plane was raised to 42’ above the lake.
  • 1920’s – 5th order lens replaced by 300 mm lens lantern.
  • 1929 – Lighthouse discontinued and turned over to the New Orleans Levee Board.
  • 1939 – 1983 – Area around lighthouse used as local amusement park.
  • Currently – Lighthouse owned by University of New Orleans.

Keepers: 

  • Benjamin J. Shane (1839-unknown)
  • Charles Fagot (c. 1860s)
  • David Power (unknown - 1882)
  • Ellen Wilson (1882-1896)
  • Margaret R. Norvell (1896-1924)
  • Minnie E. Coteron (1924-1929)

Researched and written by Marie Vincent, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.