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Website designed, written and constructed by Dan Aument
A National Register Historic Site since 1995 - A State of Michigan Historic Site since 2002
View of south pier after 1907 showing reconstruction of elevated wooden walkway, rear range light (in foreground) and fog signal building with free standing steel tower housing the head light.
Note: although this is a “hand tinted” card, the pale yellow-over-deep maroon coloration on the fog signal building accurately represents the original color scheme for a number of years.
To see a clearer photo from 1912 of the fog signal building with free standing steel tower in front of it, click here
Governmental Jurisdiction
Following a heated partisan debate in the 1st Congress in the late summer of 1789 , Bill number nine transferred the ownership of ten lighthouses from private hands to the Federal Government. (George Washington was just a couple of months into his first term as the first President of these 13 United States!) Congressional bill number nine also allocated funds for the construction of new lighthouses along the Atlantic coastline of the U.S.A. The importance of good aids to navigation - and the naval power associated with them - was clear to the Congress and the rest of the country.
During the Andrew Jackson administration in 1830, responsibility of the lighthouses was transferred to the Treasury Department. The lighthouses fell into disrepair over the next 20 years, until 1852 when Congress (during the administration of Millard Fillmore) acted to create an autonomous Lighthouse Board which divided the U.S.A. Into 12 districts. Lake Michigan became part of the 12th Lighthouse District.
Fifty-eight years later in 1910, it was again clear that the entire lighthouse system needed rejuvenation. President William H. Taf replaced the old Lighthouse Board with the Bureau of Lighthouses within the Department of Commerrce. Between 1910 and 1935, the number of districts was increased to 19. Because of Lighthouse Commissioner George R. Putnam’s dedication to improving the system, he is considered the Father of the Lights in the U.S.A.
In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a surprise cost cutting measure, abolished the Bureau of Lighthouses and made the U.S Coast Guard responsible for the lighthouses. With this move, the civilian lighthouse keepers were part of a military organization.
On year later, in 1940, Holland’s last civilian lighthouse keeper, Joseph M. Boshka, announced his retirement.
Lighthouse History - Governmental Jurisdiction
