Alpena Light
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| Location | End of N breakwater at Thunder Bay River mouth, 150 ft. from shore, Alpena, Michigan |
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| Coordinates | 45°3′37.5″N 83°25′22.44″W / 45.060417°N 83.4229000°WCoordinates: 45°3′37.5″N 83°25′22.44″W / 45.060417°N 83.4229000°W |
| Year first constructed | 1914 |
| Year first lit | 1914 |
| Foundation | Breakwater |
| Construction | Cast iron |
| Tower shape | four-legged pyramid skeleton tower |
| Markings / pattern | Red Daymark with upper part enclosed |
| Height | Tower - 34 feet (10 m) |
| Focal height | Focal plane - 42 feet (13 m) |
| Original lens | Fourth order Fresnel lens |
| Current lens | 9.8-inch (250 mm) Tideland Signal acrylic optic |
| Range | 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) |
| Characteristic | Fl R 6 secs. |
| Fog signal | HORN: 1 blast ev 15s (2s bl). Operates May 1 to Oct. 20. |
| ARLHS number | USA-007 |
| USCG number |
7-11370. |
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Alpena Light
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| Area | less than one acre |
| Architect | US Lighthouse Service |
| MPS | Light Stations of the United States MPS |
| NRHP Reference # | 06000197 |
| Added to NRHP | March 29, 2006 |
7-11370.
The Alpena Light, also known as the Thunder Bay River Lighthouse or Alpena Breakwater Light, is a lighthouse on Lake Huron near Alpena, Michigan. Standing on the north breakwater of Alpena Harbor, the light marks the entrance to the Thunder Bay River from Thunder Bay. The current lighthouse, built in 1914, replaced earlier wooden structures which had been in use since 1877 and 1888. The current light is a weather-protected structure on a steel frame. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006, and the state inventory list the same year.
The history of the Alpena Lights closely follows the history of the local timber industry. Shipping in and out of the Thunder Bay River has historically concentrated on logs, cut lumber, and rolls of paper and newsprint. The first petition for a lighthouse at the mouth of the Thunder Bay River, from a consortium of men active in the local lumber industry, came in 1857. Other pleas followed.
Congress partly responded to these appeals in 1867 with an appropriation of $10,000 to build a light at nearby Trowbridge Point. After further appeals directly to the United States Lighthouse Board, the Board advised Congress to move the location of the prospective light to the mouth of the Thunder Bay River. This recommendation was a key element in the final location of the Alpena Light. Congress approved the recommendation in 1868.
In August 1875, the first Alpena Light was established as a temporary 25-foot (7.6 m)-tall "pole light" approximately ten miles off shore.
In 1877, a second light was built from a timber design of Major Godfrey Weitzel. It was a brown wooden pyramidal tower, complete with a Sixth Order Fresnel lens. In July 1888 it burned with much of the town. After it burnt, keeper E.G. Howard—who had managed to save the keeper's house from the conflagration—again put up a temporary pole with a light. The original fog bell from the "1870 light" [sic] is on display at the Huron Lights Museum north of town.
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Wikipedia