Digest>Archives> March 2004

Lorain Loves Its Leaning Lighthouse

By By Jeremy D'Entremont

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Stormy days
Photo by: Mickey Van Wagnen

There’s a lighthouse on Lake Erie in Lorain, Ohio that stands straight and proud as a symbol of the tenacity of local people who have fought to keep it from being relegated to the scrap heap. Well, maybe not quite straight. Lorain Light has long been known as the “Jewel of the Port,” and this diamond is being gradually shined up into sparkling condition.

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Early days Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

The first permanent settlers on the shores of the lake near the mouth of the Black River came in 1807. That early outpost known as Black River evolved into the town of Charleston in 1834, renamed and incorporated as Lorain in 1874. The history of aids to navigation in the vicinity goes back to a lighted lantern on a pole in the earliest days of the settlement. The first true lighthouse, a brick tower, came in 1837.

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Today Photo courtesy Vanessa C. Volak, Lorain ...

That first lighthouse had to be replaced after so much sand had built up in the location that the light became useless. A new light was established at the end of a 600-foot pier on the west side of the river’s mouth. The keepers lived onshore and had to make a treacherous journey on the pier to tend the light. Eventually a metal walkway was added above the pier to make the trip safer, but not before keepers were washed off the pier and lost their lives in pursuit of their duties on two separate occasions.

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Mickey Van Wagnen of the Lorain Lighthouse ...

The walkway and pier went through many changes over the years, in part because ships ran into the structure multiple times during the 1890s. An iron rear range light tower was added in 1891. By the early 20th century, Lorain had grown into an important industrial and shipbuilding port. The government finally recognized the difficult job of the keepers who had to care for both lights, and it was decided to erect a new combination lighthouse and keeper’s dwelling at the end of the much-extended west breakwater. The new structure was finished in 1917. The handsome three-story building, with concrete and steel walls over ten inches thick and steel shutters to protect the windows, sits on a concrete base surmounting a timber and sandstone crib.

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Lorain Port Authority board member Jon DiMacchia ...
Photo by: Mickey Van Wagnen

The east and west breakwaters at Lorain not only protect the harbor but also have long been a boon to local fishermen and duck hunters. In the fall 2000 newsletter of the Ohio Decoy Collectors and Carvers Association, Clifton J. Kastl wrote that some of the early keepers of the lighthouse were also expert decoy carvers. One keeper named “Chief” Harriday built a duck blind on the breakwater. When disputes arose between other local hunters, Harriday was known to douse their blinds with kerosene and burn them down.

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Frank Sipkovsky, Port of Lorain Foundation ...
Photo by: Mickey Van Wagnen

In his article, Kastl quotes a local man named Fred Meyer who remembered visiting the keepers. “We spent many wonderful moments with those guys out on the light, fishing and telling stories,” Meyer said. “We even helped paint and clean and do many odd jobs... Those guys just loved to have company; it must have been a very lonely job.”

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Sam Thompson of the Lorain Lighthouse Restoration ...
Photo by: Mickey Van Wagnen

Lighthouse Service keepers maintained the light and foghorn until the Coast Guard took over in 1939. It was a busy station under the Coast Guard — during one month in the late 1950s over 60 distress calls were received. In 1959 the Coast Guard crew had the demanding task of repainting the building. Using 50 gallons of paint and four-inch brushes and working in their spare time, the men completed the task in one year.

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A view of some of the ongoing restoration of the ...
Photo by: Vanessa C. Volak

In 1965, the Coast Guard established a new automatic light on a modern structure on the new outer harbor breakwall. The lighthouse was decommissioned and the days of resident keepers were over. The building was scheduled to be demolished as part of a large-scale harbor “improvement” program.

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This view of the lighthouse interior in 1989 ...
Photo by: Mickey Van Wagnen

The demolition was originally scheduled for October 1965, but thankfully bad weather intervened and delayed the process. Also, the weather prevented the Coast Guard from laying the cable to provide power for the new light, so the lighthouse remained active for a few more months. The following year the Coast Guard turned down a request from concerned citizens to postpone the destruction of the lighthouse. Those citizens then went directly to the company scheduled to carry out the work, and it was agreed that the demolition would be postponed until the spring of 1967. By that time the Coast Guard agreed to cancel the demolition in recognition of the lighthouse’s historic value.

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An active light was returned to Lorain Lighthouse ...
Photo by: Mickey Van Wagnen

The band of concerned people, known as the Save the Lighthouse Committee, worked with the General Services Administration to find a suitable owner for the lighthouse. Ownership was transferred to the Lorain County Historical Society in 1977. A fundraising effort led to the repainting of the lighthouse in 1981. In 1990 ownership passed to the nonprofit Port of Lorain Foundation, Inc., created by the Lorain Port Authority to spearhead the restoration of the lighthouse.

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Lorain Lighthouse Restoration Committee members ...
Photo by: Mickey Van Wagnen

During its decades with no human occupants, the lighthouse suffered from vandalism and general deterioration. In 1969 the base was rammed by a Canadian freighter coming to Lorain. This left the building with a lean that wasn’t noticed by many people until recently when a large terminal building onshore was removed, affording a new unobstructed view. The base was repaired by the Army Corps of Engineers, but the tilt remains. Mickey Van Wagnen. chairman of the Port Authority’s Lighthouse Restoration Committee, says a recent survey by divers has shown that the base is again in need of repairs, and work will most likely take place next year.

Van Wagnen has been involved with the lighthouse for about 15 years. He first went to the building as a photographer for the Port Authority along with Dave Kramer, who is now the historian for the project. Van Wagnen calls the lighthouse “one of the best-kept secrets on the Great Lakes” and says that one of the best things about being so involved in its restoration is that he gets to go there anytime he wants to. He also enjoys bringing people out to the lighthouse to see the progress the group has made. “I’ve probably spent more time out there than in my own house,” he laughs. Like all the volunteers of the Lighthouse Restoration Committee, Van Wagnen isn’t paid a cent for the long hours he logs on behalf of the lighthouse.

Work on restoring the lighthouse has continued on a steady pace since 1990. The members of the Lorain Lighthouse Restoration Committee have performed most of the work themselves. A log of all their work (over 40 pages of it!) can be seen online on the Port Authority’s site at www.lorainportauthority.com/lighthouse/

The work has included replastering and repainting the interior, replacing windows and doors, sanding and repainting exterior iron work, and on and on. The breakwater is not attached to the mainland, so all trips to and from the lighthouse are by boat. This presents many logistical problems. A sample entry in the work log includes, “Hauled 46 buckets of plaster to shore.”

Frank Sipkovsky, president of the Black River Historical Society and member of the Lighthouse Restoration Committee, says the restoration at this writing is about 80% complete.

The group has also been working for increased public access to the lighthouse. “In 2002,” says Sipkovsky, “we opened the lighthouse for the first time and in a two-day period we took 611 people through. We were unable to get boat transportation this year so we are hopeful that we will be able to do it next year on several weekends associated with our local festivals.” He adds some exciting news: “We have just received a building that will be the museum and gift shop and the ticket office for lighthouse tours.”

A navigational light was re-established in the lighthouse in 2001 after 35 years in darkness. The lighthouse has gradually been brought back to shining life after being abandoned, but never forgotten.

For more information contact:

Lorain Port Authority, 422 Broadway Avenue, Lorain, OH 44052

Phone: (440) 204-2269 Web site: www.lorainportauthority.com

Email: PortofLorain@LorainPortAuthority.com

This story appeared in the March 2004 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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