North Point Lighthouse - Sheboygan
604 N 8th St, Sheboygan, WI 53081​
On March 3, 1837, Congress appropriated $20,000 for each of four lighthouses to be constructed in Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Manitowoc, Chipewagan (Sheboygan), and Root River (Racine). Before work could begin on these lighthouses, the Board of Navy Commissioners had to examine the proposed sites and determine if the lights were indeed needed. Lieutenant G. J. In August 1837 regarding the lighthouse proposed for Sheboygan.

Wisconsin Lighthouse Downloads and Prints

Map

The first keeper of the lighthouse was Stephen Wolverton.

Location

From Interstate 43 west of Sheboygan, take Exit 126 and proceed east on Kohler Memorial Drive. As you continue straight, the road will become Erie Street. Turn right on 4th Street and then turn left onto Washington Court. At the end of Washington Court, turn right onto Broughton Drive and then left into the marina parking lot where you will find the start of the breakwater that leads to Sheboygan Lighthouse.
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​​Google Maps HERE

History

Key Historical Highlights:​

The lighthouse built at Sheboygan was very similar to the other three lighthouses approved for Wisconsin in 1837 and consisted of a conical brick tower accompanied by a brick, one-and-a-half-story keeper’s dwelling. The thirty-foot-tall tower tapered from a diameter of twelve feet at its base to six feet six inches at its lantern room, from which lamps and reflectors projected a light seaward at a focal plane of eighty feet above Lake Michigan. The lighthouse commenced operation in 1839, and a fifth-order Fresnel lens was installed in its lantern room in 1857.

Due to a sandbar at its mouth, the Sheboygan River supported very little commerce until harbor improvements were begun in 1852, under the direction of the harbor commissioners of the town and county of Sheboygan. By 1854, parallel piers, 1,000 feet long and 175 feet apart, had been extended into Lake Michigan. The federal government took over the harbor improvements in 1866 and extended the piers lakeward. Pier lights were maintained locally until 1873, when the federal government constructed a lighthouse on the north pierhead.
Work on the lighthouse commenced in September 1873, and its fixed red light, produced by a sixth-order Fresnel lens at a focal plane of thirty-two feet, was exhibited for the first time on December 1, 1873. This open framework tower, painted white, was twelve feet square at its base and tapered to eight feet square at its octagonal lantern room. An elevated wooden walkway allowed the keeper to access the tower in inclement weather.

Photography
Parking is available along the shoreline in Sheboygan.  A short walk will get you to the break water pier.

The grounds are open 24x7 to view outside.  Its a City Park.

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