This change created Oxbow Lagoon along with the need for a new light to mark the mouth of the river. In 1906, a new entrance to Kalamazoo River was opened roughly a mile to the north and lined with piers. This light was exhibited from the lakeward end of a 240-foot-long conduit that was used for running the lantern in and out from a small lamp house on the pier that could be accessed via an elevated walk.Ī fifty-nine-foot-long landing pier was built at Kalamazoo Lighthouse in 1899. On May 23, 1894, a fixed red lantern light was established on the outer end of the south pier. By this time, the light was being produced by a fifth-order Fresnel lens. As a result, the light was transferred back to the 1859 lighthouse, where it was exhibited on the night of August 16, 1892. The steamer Charles McVea collided with the south pier in 1892, damaging the pier and pierhead tower. Kalamazoo Lighthouse not long before being discontinued Two years later, the east side of the sand hill, atop which the lighthouse stood, was covered with logs to prevent the sand from drifting. In 1883, a cellar was constructed under part of the dwelling and a cistern was built and equipped with a pump. Keeper Samuel Underwood continued to reside in the 1859 lighthouse, but had to row across the river multiple times a day to tend the light. In 1869, the federal government stepped in and extended the piers.Īt the opening of navigation in 1876, the light from Kalamazoo Lighthouse was transferred to a new frame structure erected at the end of the south pier at the entrance to the river. Private enterprises attempted to improve the entrance to Kalamazoo River by constructing slab piers that confined the river’s current and created a channel with a depth of seven feet. The lighthouse was built atop a foundation made up of three ten-inch-square, hand-hewn timbers that were bolted to cast-iron pilings driven into the sand and encased in concrete. Similar lighthouses were also built that year at St. This structure consisted of a two-story dwelling with a square tower perched atop its pitched roof. With the old lighthouse threatened by erosion, a new one was erected in 1859 on a sand dune at a greater distance from the river. A sixth-order Fresnel lens replaced the array of lamps and reflectors in 1856. Miller, Superintendent and Inspector of Lights on Northwest Lakes, reported that the water at the mouth of the river had worn away the bank and had protection put up at a small cost to preserve the lighthouse site. In its first incarnation, Kalamzaoo Lighthouse consisted of a thirty-foot rubblestone tower that was capped with a lantern room in which an array of six lamps and fourteen-inch reflectors was used to produce a fixed light at a height of forty-two feet above Lake Michigan. Keeper Nichols had moved to the mouth of Kalamazoo River in 1834 as one of the early settlers of the area and built a store, warehouse, and docks to cater to the settlers. Nichols was appointed its first keeper on November 1, 1839. Work on the lighthouse was carried out in 1839, and Stephen D. Navy visited the area on September 5, 1838, he found that no preparations for building the lighthouse had been made other than the placing of a pile of stones at the intended location. Village lots 10 through 18 were purchased for the lighthouse from Horace and Sarah Comstock for $250 on March 5, 1838, but when Lieutenant James T. Lyon of Tecumseh, Michigan was appointed superintendent of lights in the area and charged with, among other things, selecting a site for the lighthouse at the mouth of Kalamazoo River. Of course, it is much resorted to, and I therefore reported in favor of a light-house at its mouth. There are several flourishing towns on this river. Joseph’s this is, also, a very large stream, and may easily be improved so as to admit the largest sized vessels. Pendergrast provided the following information on Kalamazoo River as part of his report: Pendergrast spent four months sailing between Buffalo and Chicago. On March 3, 1837, Congress appropriated $5,000 for a lighthouse at the mouth of Kalamzaoo River, and later that year, after having been appointed by the Board of Navy Commissioners to examine and select sites for lighthouse, Lieutenant G.J. Kalamazoo Lighthouse with George Baker as keeper Fur traders frequented the river during the late eighteenth century, and several small communities were established along the river in the early nineteen century. At the time of European contact, members of Potawatomi tribes inhabited the area around the river. Kalamazoo River has a length of nearly 180 miles and runs through the cities of Battle Creek and Kalamazoo before emptying into Lake Michigan at Saugatuck.
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