The illuminated Allen-Bradley clock may be the candle on the water for boaters coming to Milwaukee's shores these days, but the North Point Lighthouse lit the way for decades and soon may become a public historic landmark.
North Point Lighthouse Friends, a collaboration of members of community organizations Water Tower Landmark Trust and Lake Park Friends, is trying to raise about $750,000 to restore the lighthouse and keepers' quarters and open them to the public.
The lighthouse, located in Lake Park on Milwaukee's east side, was built in 1885, and keepers' quarters were added in 1879. It wasn't Milwaukee's first lighthouse -- one had been built in the 1830s on the corner of Wisconsin and Prospect Avenues. But legend has it that lighthouse was shut down because the keeper was running a casino and possibly a brothel out of the lighthouse. So, the U.S. Coast Guard, which owns the lighthouses of the U.S., decided to build a new one on about two acres in what is now Lake Park.
The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1994, with one of the reasons being that a marketing study indicated that boaters more often used the Allen-Bradley clock tower than the lighthouse for guidance, according to Milwaukee County Supervisor Penny Podell. Part of the decommissioning process is to transfer ownership of the property to local government or a private buyer. Milwaukee County officials agreed to provide for historic preservation of the lighthouse as long as it would not be a burden on taxpayers. The county will take ownership of the property next spring, Podell said in a recent interview with OnMilwaukee.com.
Restoration without taxation should be achieved with the help of North Point Lighthouse Friends, which began working with the county in regard to the lighthouse in 1994. In addition to raising the money to restore and preserve the lighthouse, the organization also plans to make the lighthouse self-sufficient. Meeting rooms and offices will be created within the lighthouse to be rented to community and historic organizations. The keepers' quarters will be renovated to house a gallery of lighthouse, Lake Park and maritime memorabilia. The lighthouse and keepers' quarters will be open to the public.
North Point Lighthouse Friends has raised about $40,000 since its fundraising campaign began last year, said Marcia Coles, a board member of Lake Park Friends and member of North Point Lighthouse Friends. The goal is to raise the full $750,000 within the next year, she added.
Restoration of the lighthouse will include repainting the interior and exterior, refitting the crow's nest to accommodate public tours and the installation of decorative lighting. The keepers' quarters will be completely renovated, inside and out. Also, a breezeway that once connected the lighthouse to the keepers' quarters will be rebuilt.
Although in the past there has been talk of moving the lighthouse downtown, that won't happen, Podell said. The lighthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places and is considered one with the land it's on. Therefore, the land and the lighthouse cannot be separated, according to Podell.
The lighthouse is historic in terms of the building itself and the people who operated it. It used a Fresnel lens, which the Coast Guard has removed because such lenses aren't made anymore. Also, in the late 1800s the lighthouse had a woman as its keeper, unusual for the time period. The woman took over the keeper's duties from her father, Podell said.
Preserving a piece of Milwaukee's history for public use is one of the main ideas driving the North Point Lighthouse Friends, Coles said.
"It's a public park, and therefore the lighthouse should be open to the public. The public should be able to have the fun of climbing up to the top of a lighthouse and seeing the view."
North Point Lighthouse Quick Facts
- 1851 Present two-acre site from Wahl Avenue to the lake shore was acquired by the U.S. Lighthouse Service for a cost of $1,000.
- 1855 Original North Point Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters were built of cream city brick and officially opened November 22, 1855. The 28-foot tower built on the bluff put the elevation of the beacon 107 feet above water, the highest on the Great Lakes. A contemporary Milwaukee Sentinel article reported that the lens in the lighthouse was a Fourth Order Fresnel lens manufactured by Barbier, Benard & Turenne of Paris.
- 1868 The original lens was replaced and the lantern room rebuilt. Most likely the new lens was also a Fourth Order Fresnel by the same manufacturer.
- 1870s When shore erosion caused 16 feet of the lighthouse's front yard to break loose and drop to the beach, the government decided to build a new lighthouse 100 feet inland.
- 1879-1888 The new lighthouse was built with a 39-foot high octagon shaped structure constructed entirely of bolted cast iron sections. The 1868 lens was placed in the new lighthouse. The present keeper's quarters were built between 1879 and 1888.
- 1893 Lake Park was being designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, premier 19th Century American landscape architect, who built New York's Central and Brooklyn's Prospect Parks. North Point Lighthouse, surrounded by two acres of land, divided Lake Park into two sections. Before Lake Park could be freely traversed by carriage road, the park commissioners had to obtain permission from the federal government in Washington DC. In 1892 efforts led by the commissioners and Wisconsin Senator John L. Mitchell resulted in permission to complete the Olmsted plan without disturbing the lighthouse's function. This allowed a carriage road and two bridges to be built east of the lighthouse.
- 1900 Trees growing in Lake Park along the shore began to obscure the light from mariners on Lake Michigan. On March 4, 1909, Congress appropriated $10,000 to raise the height of the light tower.
- 1912 Work began in July to build a 35-foot steel structure next to the old lighthouse. When the steel structure was finished, the old light tower with its 1868 lens was reassembled on top of the new structure, making the tower 74-feet high. The work was sufficiently completed to allow the light to be placed back into service on December 15. In April 1913 the work was finished under budget at a cost of $9,455.
- 1980 North Point Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters placed on the National Register of Historic Lighthouses.
- 1984 North Point Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- 1994 The Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters are taken out of service by the U.S. Coast Guard and the 1868 Fresnel lens was removed and stored by the U.S. Coast Guard at Milwaukee.
- 1996 Community organizations in Milwaukee lay groundwork for restorations and begin planning for appropriate use of the Lighthouse, Keeper's Quarters and bluff top site.
- 1997 Milwaukee County Parks Department applies to U.S. National Park Service and General Services Administration to acquire the site for historic preservation and park purposes.
- 1999 Milwaukee County approves the grant of an option to lease Lighthouse, Keeper's Quarters and bluff top site to Water Tower Preservation Fund Inc.
- 2000 Fundraising efforts begin for historic restoration of the Lighthouse and historic renovation of the Keeper's Quarters.
Facts researched by North Point Lighthouse Friends History Committee. April, 2001.
