Lighting the Lake: The 160th Anniversary of the Marquette Lighthouse
The Marquette Lighthouse is seen from the point, circa 1895, before the second story was added. (Photo courtesy of the Marquette Regional History Center)
Pictured is the La Rabida Monastery in Spain which was incorrectly alleged to have been the inspiration for the design of the Marquette lighthouse. (Courtesy photo)
The Marquette Lighthouse is seen from the point, circa 1895, before the second story was added. (Photo courtesy of the Marquette Regional History Center)
Pictured is the La Rabida Monastery in Spain which was incorrectly alleged to have been the inspiration for the design of the Marquette lighthouse. (Courtesy photo)
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MARQUETTE -- The current Marquette lighthouse is 160 years old this summer. The building stands on a rock bluff 40 feet above Lake Superior and is one of the most photographed sites in the area.
But there is a significant amount of misinformation about the lighthouse that has been spread over the years.
Congress provided $5,000 for the first Marquette lighthouse on Sept. 28, 1850, and all but $25 of this sum was spent on its construction. It was built on the point just north of the harbor in 1853. The plans called for a round split-stone tower that stood twenty-six feet, eight inches tall and tapered from a diameter of 10 feet, 6 inches at its base to 6 feet, 5 inches at its octagonal lantern room. A 34 by 20 foot, one-and-a-half-story stone dwelling was to be located nearby for the keeper.
Unfortunately, no images of this original lighthouse survive and we do not know if the specifications were met. What we do know is that the tower and quarters were poorly constructed, and they did not stand up well to the Upper Peninsula's extreme weather.
In 1865, the Lighthouse Board submitted an estimate for "extensive repairs and renovations." Congress provided $13,000 on April 7, 1866, for "repairs and renovations," but during the following months a completely new lighthouse was constructed on the point. This second incarnation was built of yellow brick and consisted of a 1 ½ story dwelling with a square tower centered in its lakeward-facing gable end.
There has been a persistent myth that the lighthouse was designed after a Spanish monastery. The claim appears to have originated with Joseph Gannon of Marquette and was published by his widow, Ada Gannon, in 1966 during the current building's centennial.
The Gannons believed that the lighthouse was a replica of a friary building at La Rabida in Spain, which was famous because Christopher Columbus stayed there for two years before his first voyage to the new world. But the story is false; the light was built to a design common to many (nearly 40!) Great Lakes lighthouses, although it has been heavily modified over time.
The building remained in use as a residence for Coast Guard personnel until 1998.
In 2002, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Marquette Maritime Museum finalized a 30-year lease on the lighthouse. The lease allowed the museum to preserve and protect the lighthouse structure, as well as offering escorted interpretive tours through the building and grounds.
After first being proposed in 2007, ownership of the lighthouse was transferred from the U.S. Coast Guard to the city of Marquette on July 30, 2016, for use as a public park. Appropriate historic covenants require the buildings to only be used as part of the park and cannot be transferred to private hands. Maintenance and preservation are now the responsibility of the city.
The Marquette Maritime Museum, through a new long-term agreement with the city of Marquette, continues to conduct interpretive tours of the lighthouse building and grounds. During the summer of 2019, the city updated accessibility to the Museum and Lighthouse Park with a new entrance road, the construction of two paved parking lots, and the rerouting of the pedestrian/bike path. Lighthouse Park was dedicated on Sept. 26, 2019.