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(Photograph by Jeff Dean, courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society) -
(Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
In 1880, the Federal Lighthouse Board erected this light to help guide southbound ships into Racine Harbor. The conical brick tower rises 108 feet from a stone foundation, tapering from a 22-foot-diameter to a little less than 13 feet. The ten-sided cast-iron lantern crowning the light originally flashed a white coastal light and a red light, which warned ships around Racine Reef. Both beacons had a third-order Fresnel lens. Twice daily, the keeper climbed the spiral staircase’s 142 steps, lugging two five-gallon cans of kerosene to keep the lamps lit. In 1924 the light was electrified, and in 1964 it was automated. In times of dense fog, the keeper would dash to the brick Signal Building, built in 1900 at the lake, to blare a loud warning horn. The fog horn was dismantled in 1964, and its building is now a maritime museum. Several auxiliary buildings complete the site. The lighthouse keeper and his two assistants lived in the Keeper’s House, a rambling clapboard building with hipped dormers. It is connected to the tower by a covered passageway.