Point Iroquois Light is a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

on a Chippewa County bluff in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. Point Iroquois and its light mark the division line between

Whitefish Bay Whitefish Bay is a large bay on the eastern end of Lake Superior between Michigan, United States, and Ontario, Canada. It is located between Whitefish Point in Michigan and Whiskey Point along the more rugged, largely wilderness Canadian Shield ...

and the western end of the St. Marys River, the connection between

Lake Superior Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. Lake Michigan–Huron has a larger combined surface area than Superior, but is normally considered tw ...

and other

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

. Point Iroquois includes a larger geographic area than the light station site. It was named for the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

warriors massacred there by the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

in 1662. Native Algonkians called the point "Nadouenigoning", composed of the words "Nadone" (Iroquois) and "Akron" (bone).

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

Hiawatha National Forest, Iroquois Light and Museum.
/ref>

History

In 1620, French explorers

Étienne Brûlé Étienne Brûlé (; – c. June 1633) was the first European colonization of the Americas, European explorer to journey beyond the St. Lawrence River into what is now known as Canada. He spent much of his early adult life among the Wyandot peop ...

and Grenoble became the first recorded white men to the area. "From that time, Point Iroquois became a familiar landmark" for French explorers,

fur traders The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

and

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

who followed.

Sault Ste. Marie Sault Ste. Marie may refer to: People * Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, a Native American tribe in Michigan Places * Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada ** Sault Ste. Marie (federal electoral district), a Canadian federal electora ...

was the first white settlement in what became known as Michigan.

First lighthouse

In 1853 Congress, which had approved the construction of the first

Soo Locks The Soo Locks (sometimes spelled Sault Locks but pronounced "soo") are a set of parallel Lock (water navigation), locks, operated and maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, that enable ships to travel between ...

on the St. Mary's River, appropriated $5,000 for the construction of what would be the first lighthouse at Point Iroquois. In 1855-1856 the

United States Lighthouse Board The United States Lighthouse Board was the second agency of the U.S. federal government, under the Department of Treasury, responsible for the construction and maintenance of all lighthouses and navigation aids in the United States, between 18 ...

implemented this appropriation and built a wood and rubble stone lighthouse at the Point; this

aid to navigation In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. The ...

commenced operations on June 18, 1856. The first Point Iroquois light was a rubble stone tower with a wooden lantern deck, outfitted with a flashing white fourth order

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens (optics), lens which reduces the amount of material required compared to a conventional lens by dividing the lens into a set of concentric annular sections. The simpler Dioptrics, d ...

. Being built on the Point's highest ground, this first light had a focal plane, and a range of visibility of . A dwelling for a full-time lightkeeper was included as part of the complex. The St. Martin Reef Light is a twin of this first light station. However, as early as 1867, only eleven years after the first light went into operation, a government inspector was questioning the construction quality of the first light station and preparing the ground for its replacement. Furthermore, following the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, the United States Lighthouse Board had entered a lighthouse (and life saving station) building boom on the Great Lakes.

Second lighthouse and light station

In 1870, after the first lighthouse and keepers' quarters building were torn down. the second and current Point Iroquois Light was constructed, this time at an estimated cost of $18,000. The present

Cape Cod style Cape Cod style was a style of lighthouse architecture that originated on Cape Cod in Massachusetts during the early 1800s, and which became predominant to the West Coast, where numerous well-preserved examples still exist. In such lighthouses ...

white brick lighthouse was built and ran continuously for 93 years, guiding ships in and out of the

. It has a tower height, and a focal plane that is variously reported as . The new Light and keepers' quarters became visual focuses of the shoreline lumber community of

Brimley, Michigan Brimley is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Chippewa County, Michigan. The CDP had a population of 504 at the 2020 census. Brimley is located in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and is located along the southern shore ...

Its buildings

In 1885, a bell tower was erected, which incorporated a Stevens automatic bell striking machine. In 1890, the bell tower was torn down, and a fog signal building was built with steam whistles installed. In 1926 they were replaced by Type F

diaphone The diaphone is a noisemaking device best known for its use as a foghorn: It can produce deep, powerful tones, able to carry a long distance. Although they have fallen out of favor, diaphones were also used at some fire stations and in other situ ...

fog horn A foghorn or fog signal is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport. ...

s. In 1905, a two-floor extension was added to the 1871 building, providing living space for another assistant keeper, bringing the staff to three

Lighthouse keeper A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as ...

s. At peak operation, the station was manned by a Head Keeper and two Assistant Keepers. The children of the keepers and local fisherman were enough to populate a local school on the grounds for a period.Exploring the North, Point Iroquois Lighthouse.
/ref> Other buildings on the site included: an assistant keeper's quarters,

fog signal A foghorn or fog signal is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport. ...

building (now gone), three barns, a chicken house,

boat house A boathouse (or a boat house) is a building especially designed for the storage of boats, normally smaller craft for sports or leisure use. describing the facilities These are typically located on open water, such as on a river. Often the boats ...

, oil house,

outhouse An outhouse — known variously across the English-speaking world otherwise as bog, dunny, long-drop, or privy — is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket ...

and well house.

Deactivation

The station was deactivated in 1962, replaced by the Canadian operated Gros Cap Reefs Light, an unmanned buoy-type beacon in the St. Marys River channel. In 1993 the light quarters and light were completely renovated. In 1975 the Point Iroquois Light was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Reference #75000940. It is also on the state list.

The Point Iroquois Light today

It is considered to be iconic, and has been the subject of

memorabilia A souvenir (French language, French for 'a remembrance or memory'), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memory, memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collecte ...

. The land and lighthouse are now part of the

Hiawatha National Forest Hiawatha National Forest is a National Forest in the Upper Peninsula of the state of Michigan in the United States. Commercial logging is conducted in some areas. The United States Forest Service administers this National Forest; it is physical ...

and the light is a Marine Museum. Restoration efforts are being conducted under the auspices of th
Bay Mills/Brimley Historical Research Society
to whom the site is leased. In 1963, the original lens was sent to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

. A fourth order

taken from

Martin Reef Light The Martin Reef Light Station is a lighthouse located in northern Lake Huron, south of Cadogan Point in Clark Township, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. History At the end of the 19th century, the a ...

is on display in the

's house. The museum has one apartment furnished to give an idea of the lightkeepers' everyday lives. Other rooms show lighthouse technology, history of navigational aids, and historical photos. This light station housed three families. The double residence houses volunteers who work on the lighthouse restoration and give tours of the museum, gift shop and tower. *The tower and museum are open to the public from Memorial Day through October 15. Operations are seven days per week. Everyday from 10:00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m., seven days a week. Open weekends, Friday through Sunday, they reopen from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. * M-221

M-221 into

then turn left onto 6 Mile Rd which leads to the lighthouse about down the road.Anderson, Kraig, Lighthouse friends, Point Iroquois Lighthouse.
/ref>

Notes

External links

* *
Point Iroquois Light Station
- U.S. Forest Service
Aerial photos, Point Iroquois Light, marinas.com.

{{Authority control Lighthouses completed in 1856 Lighthouses completed in 1870 Houses completed in 1870 Museums in Chippewa County, Michigan Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites Lighthouse museums in Michigan Hiawatha National Forest National Register of Historic Places in Chippewa County, Michigan 1856 establishments in Michigan Lighthouses in Chippewa County, Michigan