Chicago Harbor Lighthouse from my office window
Chicago Harbor Lighthouse from Navy Pier
In 1832, the original Chicago Harbor Lighthouse was built on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Chicago River. Depending on your source, this was one of the first or the first lighthouse to be built on Lake Michigan. In 1872 a new lighthouse was built farther north at Grosse Point and in 1873 the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse was deemed unnecessary and was dismantled.
1893 brought the World’s Fair to Chicago. Chicagoans were proud to show Chicago to the world and made many harbor improvements. To prepare for an expected influx of travelers, it was decided that the construction of a new lighthouse was needed. This lighthouse was at the Chicago River’s mouth and very close to the location of the original 1832 lighthouse. This is the lighthouse that exists today. Its foundation is rubble stone with a concrete pier. It has a 48 foot steel tower that is lined with brick. On top is a 10 sided cast iron lantern. To eliminate the need for a separate living space, living space was built into the tower, which is 18 foot in diameter at its base.
The original lens used in the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse was meant to be used at Point Loma in San Diego, CA. This lens had alternating red and white panels and was put on display at the World’s Fair. The completion of the lighthouse construction was at the same time as the closing of the World’s Fiar so the Lighthouse Board decided to use it in the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse instead of at Point Loma. The original lens is now on display at Cabrillo National Monument at Point Loma.
In 1917 Chicago renovated its harbor. It was determined that a lighthouse was needed to guide vessels into the harbor at the southern extension of the breakwater, rather than at the mouth of the Chicago River. To avoid the expense of constructing a new lighthouse, the existing lighthouse was moved at a cost of $88,000. At this time a fog signal building was added to the south side of the lighthouse and a boat house building was added to the north side. The Chicago Harbor Lighthouse was automated in 1979 and restored in 1997.
Today, the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse is operational and flashes a red beacon out to aid in the navigation of sea craft. Unfortunately, it is not open to the public. I became interested in the lighthouse when I was visiting Chicago on business earlier this year. When I moved to Chicago my curiosity was piqued even more, as the lighthouse is something I can see from my closest office windows and I see it many times every day. I also found the tidbit about Point Loma interesting because Point Loma & Cabrillo National Monument is something I visiting many times while living in San Diego.
24 responses so far ↓
1 joe // Apr 21, 2004 at 12:54 pm
Nice entry. I’m always a sucker for lighthouses, they just seem so darn cool. I saw quite a few nice ones along the North Carolina coast when I lived in NC, and I’ll probably try to catch as many as a can on my trip later this summer.
2 scott // Apr 22, 2004 at 12:30 am
WOW - what a view!
3 Aaron // Apr 22, 2004 at 8:20 am
It’s pictures like these that make me want to pack up and move! Thanks for posting!
4 jocelyn // Apr 22, 2004 at 7:54 pm
Okay–here is how blonde I am–I had NO IDEA that Chicago was on the water until last Saturday. I had a layover at O’Hare and when we flew in, it was such a clear day–I saw the water/lake whatever it was and freaked out? I had no earthly clue Chicago was waterfront. I thought of you–cuz you’re the only person I know from Chicago, and I don’t even really know you, I just read your blog all the time. Funny, you post water pictures today.
ciao,
Jocelyn
5 Mike // Apr 22, 2004 at 9:35 pm
That last post cracks me up. I grew up in Chicago and now live in California.
Growing up there, I had a pretty good grasp of the geography of the US. I was shocked to see how little Californians knew about the rest of the country.
For example, Chicago is “in the east” to many, many Californians. To others, it’s still in the Midwest, but they use a much more generous definition of “Midwest.” To them, the Midwest is any place east of the Rockies and not physically touching the Atlantic ocean.
Oklahoma? Midwest. Pennsylvania? Midwest. Arkansas? Midwest. I’ve even heard of Kentucky as being in the Midwest. I try to explain that the term was coined when the Rockies were about as far west as it went. Michigan was, therefore, middle-way to the west.
When I first discovered this, I was shocked and awed. To a Midwesterner who grew up learning that the Midwest was IL, WI, MI, IN, MN, IA, IN, and OH, I was shocked to be lumped in the same pile as Oklahoma or Kentucky. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that! But they have their own region.)
Californians like to blame “The Midwest” for electing Bush, and I try to point out to them that the only Midwestern state to vote for Bush was Indiana. (Correct me if I’m wrong.)
Prerequisites for being a Midwest state: (1) There is no southern drawl spoken there. On the contrary, you speak with a nasal tone. (2) Was not a slave state. Period. (3) Is not a part of the Great Plains.
I’m not knocking the last poster at all. I just think it’s amusing to find that many people know little about Chicago and the Midwest. Maybe we learned more about geography when we were growing up because it was always cold and we had nothing better to do with our time…
6 tien // Apr 23, 2004 at 6:31 am
mike, you were wrong about the elections. see this map, which shows that ohio and indiana were won by bush. so really, ohio is to blame, just like they were to blame for the blackout.
7 rachelle // Apr 23, 2004 at 9:20 am
mike, you are right about californians, though. they refer to anything east of arizona as “out east”. also many eastcoasters dont know the midwestern states. i had a conversation recently with a bostonite visiting chicago in which he thought that montana was right next to wisconsin.
8 Lisa Schmeiser // Apr 23, 2004 at 10:30 am
There’s also the California variant “Back East,” which is used for anything pretty much east of the Rockies that doesn’t fit in “the Midwest.” A Californian’s Conception of the Continental United States is both hilarious and unnervingly accurate.
9 Aaron // Apr 23, 2004 at 11:12 am
As a native of the heart of the Midwest (Michigan), I fully agree with Mike, except for IA with feels more Great Plains to me. The Midwest is IL, WI, MI, IN, MN, OH (or those states that touch the Great Lakes).
10 Mike // Apr 23, 2004 at 1:48 pm
Tien,
I stand corrected! Blame Ohio! (Or was that Iowa? Why did they have to make the names of those states like that?)
A propos Iowa and Ohio, for all you political junkies who watch Meet the Press, did you see John Kerry make the Iowa-Ohio slip on Sunday morning?
He started out one of his “true life stories” about a person he “met” by saying,
“Tim, I met a family in Ohio, and I read about another family in Iowa, that had to take up a collection; they had to have a cake sale or a garden sale in order to collect money to buy armor to send to their kid in Iraq.”
Now, I was all ready to believe that story, until he said that he met families in both Ohio AND Iowa who needed to have a cake sale or garden sale to buy their kid body armor.
Could he have meant “I met a family from who had to have a sale to buy for their kid.”
11 Mike // Apr 23, 2004 at 1:51 pm
That last sentence got chopped. It wasn’t that funny, but here it is again just so you don’t think my English grammar is that bad:
Could he have meant “I met a family from (Name Your Own Midwestern State) who had to have a (Typical Midwestern Household Item) sale to buy (Necessary Military Gear) for their kid.”
12 rachelle // Apr 23, 2004 at 5:39 pm
great link, lisa
13 jocelyn // Apr 24, 2004 at 1:57 am
sorry i don’t know so much about the mid-west. but I have always found places near or around the ocean much much much more appealing. Iowa? Ohio? Wisconsin? Kansas? layovers? where? yeah, in the middle somewhere.
14 Mike // Apr 24, 2004 at 12:38 pm
Jocelyn,
Actually, Wisconsin is on the ocean. You might find that little tidbit in your book that said that Chicago wasn’t on the largest inland body of freshwater in the world.
Mike
15 jocelyn // Apr 24, 2004 at 10:00 pm
unfortunatley I suffer from “new york has everything” disease so I have no use for a place like Wisconsin-on or off the ocean. What do you do when you want Thai food delivered at 3:00 in the morning? Or if you were in the mood to go Salsa dancing on a Monday night? Or if you wanted to see some Punk Bands on a Tuesday? All within walking distance of your loft?
It would probably be a nice place to visit though. what do you do there?
jocelyn
16 Mike // Apr 25, 2004 at 12:10 am
Actually, I live in San Francisco, but my entire family is from Wisconsin/UP of Michigan going back about 4 generations.
BTW, Jocelyn, the UP of Michigan means the “Upper Penninsula” of Michigan. There is actually a large piece of Michigan North of Wisconsin that doesn’t even touch what most people call Michigan. Kind of like Northern Ireland, but without the terrorists.
I can get all that stuff you mentioned in San Francisco. What can you do in Wisconsin? Hmmm, let me see.
You can not trip over a half-naked drunk homeless guy on the sidewalk. You can enjoy fresh, clean air, and natural landscapes that didn’t cost $100 million a year to keep up. You can buy a huge house for $250K, or rent a huge apartment, er um, loft, for under $1000 a month. Never seen a cockroach in my part of Wisconsin. Never had terrorists threatening my little corner of Wisconsin. People look you in the eye in Wisconsin. It’s understood as a friendly gesture that is usually answered with a smile. Not a two-hand grabbing of your purse.
OK. I do like NYC. I lived in Princeton, NJ for 4 years and spent many weekends in NYC. Has lots to do, lots of, um, interesting people. Would never want to live there. Everyone bragged about how many hours they worked that week, and people looked pasty and unhealthy. Probably from the 3am Thai food, Monday night Salsa, and 80+ hour work weeks. Some friends of mine left NYC and moved to San Fran near me, and within a month, their skin changed from pasty to normal, and they actually seemed happy.
NYC is a great place to visit, though.
17 jocelyn // Apr 25, 2004 at 8:14 am
I’ve always disliked San Francisco. Mostly because the people were so annoying. Hippie Activists. Everyone had a cause. blah blah blah
Los Angeles–now that is a great town.
I suppose we will have to agree to disagree–because Wisconsin sounds dreadul–and Michigan? my best friend is from there and she already told me enough to know I will never be visiting, and she is never going back.
Oh and I work less than 40 and pay less than $1,000. And I am healthy as can be–oh and not pasty cuz I just got back from Mexico because when you are not a hippie activist working for a “cause” you can actually afford vacations, and know how to have a great time.
cheers,
jocelyn
18 Mike // Apr 25, 2004 at 2:04 pm
Jocelyn,
After reading the first blog entry on your webpage, it all came together for me. I went to an Ivy League university full of spoiled people like you “bored” of life because they thought they had done everything there was to do by age 21.
The only difference was that these people were also very intelligent. (E.g., knowing that Chicago is on Lake Michigan.)
Your blog belies you as a selfish, insecure, and depressive person. Basically a daily rundown of your shallow and monotonous social life.
Have a nice life.
19 jocelyn // Apr 25, 2004 at 7:52 pm
Well looking threw my eyes on Chicago is soo exciting and NEW! Discovery–wow Chicago’s on the water! Your life is monotonous, since you already must know everything. Life is a banquet and most poor suckers like you are starving to death.
Jocelyn
Stanford
Class of ‘95
20 Mike // Apr 25, 2004 at 7:59 pm
I TA for undergrads at your Alma Mater. I can say first hand that Stanford is an overrated undergrad school. Tops in most grad programs, but the ugrads are rich, spoiled, and not very bright.
21 jocelyn // Apr 25, 2004 at 9:33 pm
bitter? they must of been really mean to you in the finacial aid department.
jocelyn
22 rachelleb.com // Jun 21, 2005 at 10:31 pm
Navy Pier
Chicago Harbor Lighthouse :: Navy Pier, Chicago Navy Pier, Chicago Navy Pier, Chicago Navy Pier, Chicago Navy Pier, Chicago Stephanie :: Navy Pier, Chicago Stephanie :: Navy Pier, Chicago Chicago Skyline :: Navy Pier, Chicago Free Trolley :: Navy…
23 rachelleb.com // Oct 1, 2005 at 9:57 am
West of Michigan Ave.
West of Michigan Avenue, Chicago Normally the views I get from my office are to the North, East, and South, so when I was on the west side of the building recently, I took the opportunity to take a…
24 Dan Sheehan // Feb 3, 2006 at 5:24 pm
Nice shot of the lighthouse from your office window. I stumbled on it while doing some research for my attempt at photographing it from the end of Navy Pier tomorrow. You might enjoy seeing my other lighthouse images. They can be seen at http://www.gearupsix.com
Dan Sheehan
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