Indiana Harbor East Breakwater Light
Indiana Harbor East Breakwater Light (USCG)
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| Location | East side of Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal entrance to Lake Michigan |
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| Coordinates | 41°40′51″N 87°26′28″W / 41.68083°N 87.44111°WCoordinates: 41°40′51″N 87°26′28″W / 41.68083°N 87.44111°W |
| Year first lit | 1935 |
| Construction | steel |
| Tower shape | square tower |
| Focal height | 78 feet (24 m) |
| Original lens | fourth-order Fresnel lens |
| Range | 12 nautical miles; 23 kilometres (14 mi) |
| Characteristic | Isophase green 6s |
| ARLHS number | USA-401 |
| USCG number | 7-19675 |
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The Indiana Harbor East Breakwater Light is an active aid to navigation that marks the end of a breakwater on the east side of the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal where it enters Lake Michigan.
According to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, Michigan's southern boundary should be a line drawn from the southern tip of Lake Michigan east to Lake Erie. Due to errors of cartography, Lake Michigan was charted further north than it really is. This error put Toledo, Ohio and the Maumee River mouth in Ohio. This was one of the bones of contention involved in the “Toledo War”, which was only resolved by Act of Congress, and the related award of the Upper Peninsula to Michigan. All of this had an indirect effect on Indiana's northern border, which now encompassed the southern tip of Lake Michigan.
Indiana Harbor was constructed over several years, beginning in 1901, and this included a breakwater paralleling the east edge of the channel where it enters the lake. In 1914 responsibility for the waterway and its facilities was assumed by the Corps of Engineers, and there is some indication that the Corps erected a lighthouse on the breakwater in 1920; however, information on its construction is lacking.
On 26 March 1901, Inland Steel Company contracted with Lake Michigan Land Company. It accepted fifty acres of dune land near East Chicago and a promise that a harbor and railroad would be built, in consideration of a promise to build a steel plant there that would cost no less than one million dollars. For $500,000, Inland Steel divested itself of Inland Iron and Forge Company, and raised another $500,000 to fund the project.
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