Plum Island Range Front Light

Plum Island Range Front Light, Plum Island, Door County, Wisconsin

Both Plum Island Range Lights (front and rear) make up the Plum Island Light Stataion, which were part of the Plum Island Life-Saving Station, established in 1896.

PLUM ISLAND FRONT AND REAR RANGE LIGHT

Location: LAKE MICHIGAN
Station Established: 1897
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1897
Operational? YES
Automated? YES
Deactivated: N/A
Foundation Materials: CONCRETE
Construction Materials: IRON
Tower Shape: SKELETAL
Markings/Pattern: WHITE
Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE
Original Lens: FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL
Range: 12 miles
Characteristic:

HISTORICAL INFORMATION:

• This was the first light built to mark the dangerous Porte Des Morts Passage. It was first proposed in 1848, but mariners felt a light would be more useful on Pilot Island so a light was built there. In 1890 it was again proposed to build a light on Plum Island but approval did not come until 1893 and actual construction was not begun until 1896. It was completed in 1897.
• Both front and rear range lights were fixed red. The front light had a range of 8.5 miles while the rear light had a range of 13 miles.
• In 1939 the light station merged with the life saving station that had also been built on the island.
• In 1964 the front range light was removed and replaced with a skeletal tower.
• In 1969 the range lights were automated.
• In 1975 the fog signal was discontinued.
• In 1984 the rear range light was added to the National Register of Historic Places
• In 2000 the Keeper’s house was placed on the list of Wisconsin’s ten most endangered historic properties.

Researched and written by Anne Puppa, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.