Station Michigan City, Indiana
Coast Guard Station #274
Coast Guard Station Michigan City
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Location:
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On east side entrance of Michigan City Harbor, abreast Yacht Basin, 1/2 mile southeast by south of East Pierhead Light;
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Date of Conveyance:
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1887
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Station Built:
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1888
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Fate:
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Still in operation
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Remarks:
Michigan City (from an article by Dennis L. Noble, "The Old Life Saving Station at Michigan City Indiana, 1899-1914," in: Indiana History Bulletin 51/10 (October 1974, pp. 136-43) :
On May 4, 1882, Congress authorized the site for a life saving station on the east side of Michigan City’s harbor. The station was opened in April of 1889 with Henry Finch as its first keeper and a crew of six men. A significant rescue operation occurred on December 5, 1893 when the F.W. Wheeler ran aground three miles west of Michigan City in a blinding snowstorm. The crew of sixteen could be rescued but the ship was lost. Finch was succeeded as Keeper by Allen A. Kent, formerly of Manistee Station, on April 16, 1897. It was during Kent’s watch that the crew of the Horace A. Tuttle was rescued under extremely difficult circumstances in late October 1898. Kent stayed on as Keeper until March 4, 1908 when he moved on to Charlevoix, Michigan. His successor was Michael Egle who was still in office when the Life Saving Service and the Revenue Cutter Service merged to form the Coast Guard on January 28, 1915. The subsequent keepers were William E. Preston (121-22), Berger Benson (1922-25), Sigval A. Johnson (1915-28), and David A. Furst (1928-40). On June 1, 1940, the Register shows that Furst retired and the Michigan City Station was under the command of the Warrant Officer at St. Joseph Coast Guard Station.
Sources:
Station History File, CG Historian’s Office
Dennis L. Noble, "The Old Life Saving Station at Michigan City Indiana, 1899-1914," Indiana History Bulletin 51/10 (October 1974), pp. 136-43.
Dennis L. Noble & Michael S. Raynes. “Register of the Stations and Keepers of the U.S. Life-Saving Service.” Unpublished manuscript, compiled circa 1977, CG Historian’s Office collection.
Ralph Shanks, Wick York & Lisa Woo Shanks. The U.S. Life-Saving Service: Heroes, Rescues and Architecture of the Early Coast Guard. Petaluma, CA: Costaño Books, 1996.
U.S. Treasury Department: Coast Guard. Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers and Cadets and Ships and Stations of the United States Coast Guard, July 1, 1941. Washington, DC: USGPO, 1941.