North Pierhead Light & Steam Fog Whistle

The Presque Isle, North Pierhead Lighthouse, also known as the, Erie Harbor North Pierhead Light, is one of the three lighthouses near Erie. The light, situated at the far eastern end of Presque Isle State Park, helps mariners as they traverse the narrow inlet between Lake Erie and Presque Isle Bay.

Originally constructed as a wooden tower in 1818, that light was swept away by a schooner in 1855, it was powered by whale oil, and had to be constantly attended. When mariners were approaching the channel, many times they had difficulty spotting the pier light until they were right on top of it. To help solve this problem, in 1854, the light was equipped with a new sixth-order Fresnel lens, so that the beacon could be more easily seen. This apparatus had an illuminating arc of 270 degrees, which was a great improvement from the former light.

In an inspection report of 1837 it was noted that Erie’s Harbor was served by a lighthouse and a beacon. The lighthouse was the Erie Land Lighthouse, which had been erected on a bluff overlooking the harbor in 1818, and the beacon was a light at the entrance to the bay that had just been established. In fact, Congress had appropriated $674 on March 3, 1837, for “completing the beacon-light at the end of the pier which forms the entrance into the harbor of Erie.” The 1837 report indicated that the beacon was “so situated that it cannot be seen by vessels running down the lake until they are very close to it,” and thus recommended that vessels use the lighthouse to gain the upper entrance to the harbor and then follow the beacon light.

In 1854 the wooden beacon light received a catadioptric apparatus of the sixth order, illuminating an arc of 270°, which replaced the former apparatus that had be described as being very defective. The beacon light and its new sixth-order lens were destroyed the following year, when a vessel entering the harbor during a gale struck the tower. A lens lantern, suspended from a gallows frame, was displayed on the pier until a replacement tower could be built.

The current lighthouse commenced operation in 1857. The iron tower stood twenty-six-and-a-half feet tall, and when originally built, only the watchroom beneath the lantern room was enclosed. The lower portion of the tower was open showing its spiral staircase — by 1909, the lower portion of the tower had been sheathed with wood and covered with metal shingles; steel plates would later be placed on the lower portion. The tower was forged in France, and assembled on site in Erie, and was made from wrought iron with its tower rising to 34 feet in height, equipped with a new 4th Order Fresnel Lens. An itemized cost sheet from 1855 records shows that $1,731 was needed for the labor and materials to build up a new 28 by 33 foot pierhead at Erie from two feet below the water to seven feet above. $939 was the estimated cost for plates, bolts, braces, stairs and railing to construct a two-story, cast-iron tower, while $432 was the expected cost for the lantern. Painting was to run $215, freight $100, superintendence and labor for the tower and lantern, another $900. After adding 10% for contingencies and $502 for a sixth-order Fresnel lens, the total cost for a new pier head and beacon was an estimated $5,250.

In addition to the pierhead light, various range lights have served nearby to help mariners enter the harbor over the years. In 1854 the Lighthouse Board adopted range lights that had previously been privately maintained. An 1857 Light List shows that there were three range beacons in use at Erie: one on the west end of the pier, and two on the peninsula, northwest of the pier.

In 1872 new octagonal frame towers were erected on the east and west ends of the recently extended pier to serve as a range for entering the harbor. At this time the 1857 iron tower was on a crib behind the pier. A fog bell was established at the eastern end of the pier in 1880.

In 1882 the pier was expanded in both width and length, the tower was moved 190 feet to the end of the new pier, and the fog bell was placed in its base. When this was done the channel to the bay was deepened, and this caused sand to fill in near the end of the new pier which would cause problems throughout the years. The light's characteristic was changed from fixed white to fixed red at this time, the oil to be burned in the light was changed from whale oil to lard oil, which was more readily available, and cost less than half the price of more expensive whale oil. An elevated walk, with a length of 934 feet, was built between the iron tower and the keeper's dwelling in 1883. During the same year, the lenses in use at the North Pierhead Lighthouse, and at Crossover Island Lighthouse in New York, were swapped with the North Pierhead, receiving a fourth-order lens, and Crossover Island a sixth-order lens.

The north pier was extended 450 feet during 1891, forcing the relocation of the iron tower and its fog bell, and the addition of more elevated walk. In 1889 a fog signal building was built on the tip of the Presque Isle Peninsula, about a mile-and-a-half north of the pierhead station. A ten-inch steam whistle commenced operation on August 1, 1899, sounding a five-second blast every thirty seconds, when needed, until replaced in 1924 by a diaphone fog signal.

As the steam whistle was added to the responsibilities of the North Pierhead Station, a second assistant keeper was appointed to attend to the whistle, and in 1900, a new duplex was built for the head keeper and first assistant, while the second assistant was assigned to the old dwelling. Also in 1900, the fog bell was removed from the base of the iron tower and placed in a open framework structure at the end of pier, which had been extended 470 feet. The open framework structure had previously been used to exhibit a light on the pier at Dunkirk, New York.

An allotment of $38,500 was provided in 1923 to electrify the lights on the pierhead, to build a new compressed-air fog signal 500 feet east of the steam whistle, to erect a new steel tower for the western light on the pier, and to construct a new boathouse. Commercial electricity was supplied to the station via a submarine cable, but a generator was also installed in a new powerhouse at the station in case of a power failure.

The lights on the pier were electrified on July 18, 1924, and the new diaphone fog signal, which was housed in a steel tower and could be operated by remote control from the powerhouse, commenced operation a few weeks later on August 6.

A string of at least sixteen head keepers, starting with Samuel Foster and ending with Walter Korwek, are known to have served at the light. Keeper Robert Allen, who had the longest tenure as head keeper, received many accolades during his service. In 1913 he was awarded a lifesaving medal for rescuing two people, who were about to drown while swimming near the pier. Victor Osburg was teaching Ruth McLaughlin to swim, when the current swept the pair into deep water. Keeper Allen was on the pier lighting up the beacon and quickly tied a line to a mop handle, which he was able to toss out to Osburg. After reeling the man in, Keeper Allen removed some of his clothes and plunged into the water after Miss McLaughlin, who had sunk by this time. Keeper Allen swam some sixty yards and then dove down, retrieved the woman, and brought her to the pier. A lifesaving crew had arrived on the scene by this time, and, after expelling water from Mrs. McLaughlin, they performed artificial respiration for four minutes before she finally revived.

Keeper Allen was awarded the lighthouse efficiency pennant for having the best-kept station in the district in 1914 and 1915. In 1918 Allen helped extinguish a fire aboard the fishing tug Gannet, and the following year, he and his assistants were recognized for helping rescue the crew of the steamer Tempest, which foundered in the channel near Erie Harbor. Finally, in 1925, Keeper Allen helped extinguish a fire that raged on the peninsula for several days.

The next and last move of the lighthouse took place in 1940, at which time it was outfitted with its present heavy steel plates and became home to a tyfon air signal, which replaced the fog bell on the pier. A class C radio beacon was established at the station in 1941. Relocated 509 feet to the end of a newly extended pier, the new addition to the pier changed its general direction. The addition went in a more northeasterly direction. This stopped the sand problem, almost immediately, which was a problem in its previous location for many years. Once the lighthouse tower was moved the 509 feet, the lighthouse with its heavy steel plating was painted with distinctive large black-and-white stripes. The design of the lighthouse and its steel cover is unique, and it is the only surviving example of the square and pyramidal style lighthouse tower left in this country. The plating and additional bracing used in this reconstruction were made in France and shipped to Erie for assembly. At this point, in the minds of many, it finally became a true lighthouse. When all the changes were complete, an automated electric light was installed. Beginning in 1995 the light began to be powered by solar panels and the Coast Guard changed the light’s fixed red light to a flashing red light, at which time the 4th order Fresnel lens was sent to the Erie Maritime Museum.

Head Keepers:

Samuel Foster (1835 - 1837)
William Kane (1837 - 1841)
Benjamin Fleming (1841 - 1845)
Leonard Vaughan (1845 - 1850)
Ruben Field (1850)
John Hess (1850 - 1853)
William T. Downs (1853 - 1854)
Leonard Vaughan (1854 - 1861)
George W. Bone (1861 - 1863)
Richard P. Burke (1863 - 1869)
Frank Henry (1869 - 1884)
Charles D. Coyle (1885 - 1889)
Robert Hunter (1890 - 1901)
Thomas L. Wilkins (1901 - 1909)
Robert Allen (1909 - at least 1930)
Walter J. Korwek (at least 1940 - 1953)