The entire contents of this internet document are Copyright 2003 by the Ottawa Beach Historic Committee.
Website designed, written and constructed by Dan Aument
A National Register Historic Site since 1995 - A State of Michigan Historic Site since 2002
Lighthouse History - Second stage of Lighthouse Development 1901/02 - 1907
Original wooden tower 1872 - 1901/1902
Free standing steel tower 1901/1902 - 1907
Steel tower with fog signal building 1907 - 1936
Beacon tower added to fog signal 1936
This August 1906 photo shows the heavy wooden timbers of the pier and the elevated wooden catwalk leading to the steel tower.
This photo looks WNW past the formidable looking base of the steel tower toward the end of the north pier head. Note the wooden deck of the pier head.
Sometime after the turn of the century, the original wooden tower was replaced with a tower constructed of heavy riveted steel. The steel tower was about 15 feet taller than the original wooden tower with the light positioned 45 feet above the water. The steel tower had three levels, including a ten sided glassed in lantern room, a lamp room for storing and cleaning the lamps and a lower level which housed a stove. In the photo at the left, a black smokestack can be discerned extending from the lower “stove room” to just above the lantern room at the top of the tower.
By raising the height of the light to 45 feet above lake level, this red 4th order kerosene light was visible for 13 miles. The steel tower was strong and well built, but the wooden pier head was subject to damage by wave action and icebergs as may be seen in the panoramic 1905 photo at the bottom of this page.
This pre-1907 view of the south pier shows (from left to right) the steel tower, the tall range light (colored green in this hand tinted photo), and the watch tower in which the lighthouse keeper and his assistants stood watch in six hour shifts.
In this 1905 view to the north, the devastating effects of the previous winter’s icebergs may be seen in the huge gap in the north pier. The white single story building in the center is the Ottawa Beach Hotel bath house, which was replaced in the late 1930‘s by the Holland State Park concession stand and bath house.
