The Two Harbors Breakwater 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 ...

located at the end of the

breakwater Breakwater may refer to: * Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour Places * Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia * Breakwater Island, Antarctica * Breakwater Islands, Nunavut, Canada * ...

enclosing the eastern end of

Agate Bay Agate ( ) is a banded variety of chalcedony. Agate stones are characterized by alternating bands of different colored chalcedony and sometimes include macroscopic quartz. They are common in nature and can be found globally in a large number of d ...

and defining the harbor at

Two Harbors, Minnesota Two Harbors is a city in and the county seat of Lake County, Minnesota, United States, along the shore of Lake Superior. The population was 3,633 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Minnesota State Highway 61 serves as a main route i ...

History

A 1887 project to improve the harbor facilities resulted in the construction of a pair of breakwaters to better enclose the bay, one jutting out from either shore. The eastern of the two was marked by a lantern mounted on an iron post, which was first lit in 1895 and then moved to the end of the breakwater upon its completion in 1902. At the same time the lantern was replaced with a Pintsch gas lamp supplied from a pair of tanks on the breakwater. Four years later, the lamp was replaced with the current tower. It is an iron skeletal tower with the top enclosed to for a watch room, and a typical octagonal lantern on top. The original fog signal was a clockwork-powered bell which was wound by an electric motor; both the motor and the lamp were powered from a powerhouse on shore. An electric siren replaced the bell and the lamp was changed from oil to electricity in 1915; the siren was replaced in turn by the present horn in 1941. The light was discontinued for three years starting in 1947, when the breakwater was being extended; it resumed operation with the same structure and signals in 1950, and remains active today.

References

{{authority control Lighthouses in Minnesota Lighthouses completed in 1906 1906 establishments in Minnesota Buildings and structures in Lake County, Minnesota