Federal grant to help restore lighthouse

By CHRISTOPHER DIEM, Journal Staff Writer
MARQUETTE — Not many people know who Frank Otto was but with the help of a federal grant, the Marquette Maritime Museum will be able to show people how he lived.


The museum was recently awarded a $296,000 “Save America’s Treasures Initiative” grant that it will use to renovate the Marquette Harbor Lighthouse. Included in the project will be restoration of the second floor of the lighthouse to what it looked like in 1910 when Otto lived there while he was second assistant to the lightkeeper.


“The intention of the grant is to be able to handle the exterior and interior work that needs to be done,” said Fred Stonehouse, president of the museum board. “The lower floor will be a conventional museum — with display material. The upper floor will be like it was when it was completed as the assistant keeper’s quarters.”


Otto lived on the second floor of the lighthouse from 1910 to 1911. Stonehouse said the duties of a lightkeeper were tedious and required three people — the lighthouse keeper, the first assistant and the second assistant — to maintain the light and the fog horn, which was housed in a small building at the end of lighthouse point.


Stonehouse said he hoped the grant money would be able to preserve some of that history.


The grant requires a match of cash, goods or services from the museum.


“It’s a matching grant,” Stonehouse said. “Of their $296,000 we need to find our $296,000, and of course it does give us flexibility in terms of using cash, staff time, donated labor, donated materials, all going toward our match.”


Stonehouse said museum officials will appeal to the community for volunteer labor and donations and businesses like hardware stores to provide materials.


The “Save America’s Treasures” grants are awarded annually and are designed to preserve significant historic properties and collections. The grant will be used over the next three years.


Stonehouse said about a dozen such grants are awarded per year.


“They’re very rare. They’re very prestigious grants, these are not the normal ones that fall off the tree,” he said.


The current lighthouse was built in 1866 and a second story was added in 1909. The lighthouse played a vital role for the area during the mining boom of the late 19th and early 20th century.


“Because of the relationship of the harbor lighthouse to the iron ore trade — for many years Marquette being the premiere iron ore port on the Great Lakes — that was the vital single aid in navigation on the Great Lakes for those ore freighters, coming and going,” Stonehouse said.


U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, helped to secure the grant for the lighthouse, Stonehouse said.


“We’ve been working for this for three or four years, particularly with Senator Stabenow and it was great for it to finally come home,” he said.


Anyone willing to contribute time, effort, materials or money can contact the museum at 226-2006 or Stonehouse at 226-6014.