Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse Brief History

Old Mackinac Point Light Station served as a beacon to navigators through the Straits of Mackinac for 65 years. Built near the peak of development of manned light- houses in America, it bears witness to changing technology in aids to navigation--changes that ultimately made it obsolete. Originally surrounded by, and now part of Michilimackinac State Park, it has been a popular tourist spot since the 1890s. Located a short distance from the site of eighteenth-century Fort Michilimackinac, the light station benefited from efforts to preserve Old Mackinac Point from development. It remains within its park setting as a reminder of the importance of Great Lakes shipping to Michigan and the nation.

Old Mackinac Point The Straits of Mackinac had been a focus of European activity since 1671 when the French established a mission and later a fort at St. Ignace. Abandoned in 1697, a new fort was constructed in about 1715 on the south side of the Straits near the eventual location of the lighthouse. Fort Michilimackinac was the center of the fur trade in the upper Great Lakes, the site of tremendous activity during the summer. The post passed from the French to the British in 1761 following the French and Indian War, but retained its key role in the fur trade. In 1779-81, due to a fear of an attack by American Revolutionary forces, the British moved the fort to nearby Mackinac Island. A number of the fort buildings were transported to the island for reconstruction. The remaining structures were burned. Under American control after 1796, Mackinac Island remained a fur trading center through the 1830s. After the Civil War it evolved into a major summer resort. What remained of the old fort on the mainland was eventually buried beneath the sand, but the post was never forgotten. The name “Old Mackinac Point” alluded to the former fort. In 1857, when the community of Mackinaw City was platted, developers Edgar Conkling and Asbury Searles reserved the northern tip of the village as “Old Fort Park.”[1] Conkling and Searles also designated an area within the park as a “lighthouse reservation.” While the developers’ vision only began to become reality after the establishment of the railroad in 1880s, much of the town was platted according to the 1857 plan. This included the preservation of the northern tier as a municipal park, eventually named “Wawatam Park.” Part of this was later used as a light station.	Conkling and Searles 1857 plat map of Mackinaw City (detail) showing the reservation of Old Mackinac Point as a public park, including land for a lighthouse and fort.
Front elevation of the tower and keepers' dwelling from the orginal 1891 plans.	Lights on the Lakes With the settlement of the Old Northwest, navigation on the Great Lakes increased steadily throughout the nineteenth century. Lumber, grain, coal, iron, copper and manufactured goods filled the hulls of sail and steam vessels. By 1860, nearly one-tenth of all American ships were plying the waters of the Great Lakes. The first Great Lakes’ lighthouses came with this boom in settlement and transportation. The earliest were built between 1818 and 1822 on Lakes Erie and Ontario. By the late 1820s and 1830s the first appeared on Lakes Huron and Michigan. The growth in navigation and lighthouse construction continued into the late nineteenth century. By the late 1880s, the number of vessels using the port of Chicago nearly equaled that of New York, with 20,000 arrivals and departures in an eight-month period. By 1892, 219 major lights (increasing to 334 by the end of the century) were guiding vessels on the Great Lakes. The Straits of Mackinac was a critical passage in the Great Lakes system--a vital link to all traffic passing between Lakes Huron and Michigan, particularly to the prominent ports of Chicago and Milwaukee. Tourist traffic at the Straits, both passenger steamers and ferries, increased steadily as Mackinac Island developed into a major Midwest summer resort. The Straits of Mackinac was dangerous to all types of vessels, laden with many islands, shoals and reefs. The first light in the region (the second on Lake Huron) was established at Bois Blanc Island in 1829. The light had been petitioned from the federal government by the merchants of Mackinac Island. The first lightship on the Great Lakes was stationed just west of the Straits at Waugoshance Shoal in 1832, replaced by a lighthouse in 1851. In 1869, the light that was Old Mackinac Point’s closest neighbor at the time of construction was built at McGulpin’s Point. St. Helena Island Light, ten miles to the northwest, was established in 1873 and Spectacle Reef, 35 miles to the east, was built between 1870 and 1874. The need for further lights on the Straits of Mackinac remained a concern throughout the last half of the nineteenth century.[2]
Evolution of Lighthouses By the time Old Mackinac Point was established in 1889, both the technology and administration of lighthouses had developed considerably. Lighthouses have existed since antiquity. The first in America was established in 1716 on Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbor. It was joined by others that were maintained by either colonial governments or private groups. These early lights, following contemporary advancements, were illuminated by lantern rooms lit by oil lamps, rather than fires. Other European innovations such as reflectors and flashing lights would not be implemented in the United States until well into the nineteenth century. In 1789, the newly formed United States Lighthouse Service of the Treasury Department took control of the administration of all lighthouses in order to systematically administer seagoing transportation. For decades following its creation, the growth and administration of the Lighthouse Service was slow and full of corruption. For a long period, there was more concern for economy than safety. Though the number of lighthouses grew, both the quality of their construction and the competency of their keepers left much to be desired. Little attention was paid to European advances in technology, particularly the development of the Fresnel lens (see sidebar). In 1852, following a thorough investigation, Congress created a nine-member Lighthouse Board to administer all aids to navigation. The board, composed of prominent scientists and engineers, brought order to the Lighthouse Service and began at once to install Fresnel lenses in all U.S. lights. The country was divided into 12 lighthouse districts (increased to 16 in 1886). Each was eventually provided with its own administration, including a superintendent, engineer and inspector at a central depot equipped with supplies and tenders (service ships). The board efficiently and competently administered aids to navigation for over half a century, raising the reputation of the U. S. Lighthouse Service to one of the best in the world.[3]	The tower and dwelling near completion, 1892.
The earliest known photograph of the complete station showing all three original main structures, ca. 1900.	Establishment & Construction The need for a light to guide ships through the Straits of Mackinac, particularly the western entrance, was first presented to Congress by the reformed Lighthouse Service in 1854. It was not until 1869 that one was finally established, at McGulpin’s Point, two miles west of Old Mackinac Point. At an elevation of 102 feet, it served as a good guide to all ships from the west. However, from the east this light was obscured by Old Mackinac Point and its location was eventually seen as inadequate. Throughout the 1870s and 1880s repeated requests were made for another light to either supplement it or replace it. The exact location was debated. Although Old Mackinac Point was seen as a suitable site, as indicated on Conkling and Searles’ 1857 map, Round Island was also considered. In 1879 the Board recommended the latter. Nothing happened however, and by 1888 the board again focused on “Old Fort Mackinac.” At this turning point of the Straits, a light would be visible to vessels approaching from any direction. This proposal included the abandonment of the McGulpin’s Point lighthouse which operated until 1906. A lighthouse was also established at Round Island in 1895 to guide vessels through the “north” passage between it and Mackinac Island.[4]
Based upon the board’s 1888 recommendation, Congress passed two acts on March 2, 1889. The first was for the establishment of a light station at Old Mackinac Point, the second appropriated $5,500 for construction of a fog signal building. Since the second act actually appropriated funds, the construction of this component began immediately. Construction of the light tower and dwelling waited while the Lighthouse Board returned to Congress the following year with an appropriation request. The site was surveyed in 1889. The entire light station property was located within the eastern end of Mackinaw City’s municipal park. Although preserved according to the 1857 plan, the park had not been developed to any extent. The federal government paid the city $600 for the 150 by 166-foot parcel. Construction began immediately after title to the land was secured in June 1890. The first structure on the property was a dock for the landing of materials. The fog signal building was a 20 by 40-foot frame structure covered with corrugated iron on the outside and smooth iron inside. It contained two identical steam boilers and machinery. From the southern end of the roof emerged two iron smokestacks and two steam whistles. The duplication of machinery was a safety measure in case one failed. The building was completed in October and the signal first operated November 5, 1890.[5]	The lighthouse, ca. 1910, with a good view of the barn. The origin and purpose of the rustic gazebo in front of the dwelling is unknown. The people are probably members of the Marshall and Barnum families.
The light station from the end of the dock showing the new fog signal.	Meanwhile, the board’s 1890 request was submitted to Congress. In March 1891, $20,000 was appropriated for the construction of a light tower and keepers’ dwelling. The funds were also used for the construction of a barn and oil house. The drafting of plans and specifications consumed the next seven months. All the metal work for the station (including the oil house and numerous components of the tower) was constructed separately and this contract was issued first, in October 1891, to John McGuire of Cleveland.[6] All remaining work was to be done by a private builder on site. While the Lighthouse Service usually solicited bids for materials near the main depot in Detroit, construction work was often completed using their own crews. This was due to the remote locations of the light stations. It was likely more economical to hire a private contractor for work on a station located within a town, such as Old Mackinac Point. John P. Schmitt of Detroit was awarded the contract in March 1892 based on his bid of $13,722.[7]
Construction of the lighthouse commenced in May 1892 and proceeded quickly in order to allow it to go into active use that season. In August the local paper reported that “the new light-house is beginning to look quite like a mansion.”[8] The lighthouse was an impressive building with a Norman-inspired character. The fifty-foot tower was attached to the two-story keepers’ dwelling, which contained separate residences for the families of the keeper and assistant keeper. Each residence was fully divided by brick partition walls with one connecting doorway allowing both the keeper and assistant keeper access to the service room and tower. The interior rooms were of frame construction with lath and plaster walls and ceilings, hardwood and pine flooring and factory-milled woodwork. The building fronted the lake. The foundation was ashlar-coursed limestone blocks and the walls were buff-colored brick. At its center was a square tower topped with battlements, as was the connecting section between it and the light tower. The windows were fitted with stone lintels and the building was covered with a red pressed-metal roof through which protruded several corbelled chimneys. With the towers, south cross gable, porches and kitchen wing, the massing of the building presented a picturesque randomness. This was typical of the architecture of the period. Its steeply pitched roofs and verticality were in keeping with the prevailing taste in monumental public buildings. The care in design however, was not typical of most contemporary lighthouses on the Great Lakes. The designer of the lighthouse is unknown, but the plans were issued from the Ninth District engineer’s office in Detroit. Why such attention was paid to style at Old Mackinac Point is not documented. The Lighthouse Service may have wanted to project a pleasant image given the location of the lighthouse within a city park and the significant number of tourists that passed by it in the summer season.[9]	Front view of the station in teh 1920s from the dock. The original fog signal, now the warehouse, can be seen behind the 1907 building. The little white structure on legs at the left center is the housing for the U.S. Weather Bureau equipment.
Michilimackinac State Park with the light tower in the distance, ca. 1930.	The two outbuildings on the property were also completed as part of the project. The 16 x 24-foot, gable-roofed barn was located 50 feet directly behind the lighthouse. It was a frame structure clad in board and batten and shingle siding. The small, circular oil house was about 150 feet to the southeast. This iron building was capable of storing 360 gallons of kerosene at a time, in five-gallon cans. Unlike the tower and dwelling, both these structures were issued from standard plans. Round metal oil houses, almost identical to the one constructed at Old Mackinac Point, can still be found at several other stations, including South Manitou Island in Lake Michigan and Au Sable on the coast of Lake Superior. The same barn design can be seen at Tawas Point and Forty Mile Point on Lake Huron and Raspberry Island Light and Split Rock on Lake Superior, among others. The entire property was enclosed within a picket fence and wooden sidewalks connected the site’s various elements. A privy was located near the oil house. The light was first lit October 25, 1892 and construction was completed two days later. The Mackinaw Witness commented “the light-house commenced operations last Tuesday night; and will continue to guide the mariners till the close of navigation with its red flashes.”[10]
A problem with the layout of the light station property was immediately apparent: the fog signal and lighthouse were too close to each other. The 1892 annual report of the Lighthouse Service recommended that the signal house be moved 50 feet to the east. Unfortunately, more land was required from Mackinaw City, which was unwilling to sell. By the late 1890s, the service began court proceedings to acquire the needed property through condemnation. A hearing was held in 1899, but a final decision was not rendered until 1904, in which the government took control of the needed property after paying $400 in compensation to Mackinaw City. Interestingly in this same year, Mackinaw City transferred the city park to the State of Michigan for use as a state park, the second in Michigan after Mackinac Island. The final appropriation for the land purchase was not made until 1905, delaying construction until the following year. By this time it had been decided to construct a new signal building. The original structure was relocated to the new lot, where it served as a warehouse into the 1940s. The new signal house was built in front of it. Constructed of red brick with Tudor-style gables and a brick chimney, it presented a much more substantial appearance than its iron-clad predecessor. The three-room interior was brick with a concrete floor and decorative pressed-metal ceiling. The fog signal building, completed and put into operation in 1907, used the boilers, engines and steam whistles from the old building and a new duplex steam pump.[11]	The station property from the state park in the 1920s.
Postcard view of the station in the late 1930s or 1940s showing the radio tower.	Changes The light station operated in much the same way throughout its history. It was always a manned station, with keepers and their families living in the dwelling. The Fresnel lens continued to shine and the fog signal to bellow. There were, however, changes in precisely how these two pieces of equipment operated. In addition, a third navigation aid, a radio beacon, was added to the station in the late 1930s. These changes in lighthouse and fog signal technology were implemented at Old Mackinac Point beginning in the 1910s and continued into the 1940s. The lens lamp was converted from kerosene to incandescent oil vapor (I.O.V., much like a present-day Coleman lantern) in 1913. The light maintained its red characteristic. Originally achieved through the use of a red chimney on the lamp, the new I.O.V. system used red glass screens about the outside of the lens. The oil lamp was replaced by an electric light in 1929 and, in about 1940, the weighted clockwork mechanism was replaced by an electric motor. Similar innovations were implemented for the fog signal. Sometime between 1927 and 1937 the original 10-inch steam whistles were replaced by an air diaphone system consisting of large air horns powered by a gasoline-driven air compressor.[12] The development of radio equipment in the late 1920s proved an important advance for the Lighthouse Service and went into widespread use in the 1930s. Several radio beacons along a coast transmitted varying signals at the same time. Mariners could easily determine their position by taking bearings on the signals. Radio beacons at the Straits of Mackinac were an important aid not only to general marine traffic, but also to the railroad and automobile ferries that traveled between Mackinaw City and St. Ignace. Beacons were established at Old Mackinac Point in 1937-38. The workroom at the northwest corner of the fog signal building was converted to a radio room, housing the equipment needed for the operation. A large antenna tower enclosed within a white picket fence was constructed just to the north of the signal house. The keeper was instructed to maintain the radio beacon, as he did the fog signal, after the close of regular navigation. The beacon was operated each season until advised by the operators of the car ferries that it was no longer needed.
There were few physical changes to the light station throughout its years of operation. Technological innovations in lighthouses and signaling accounted for some changes. Others were dictated by domestic technology, taste or changes in administration. The dock constructed in 1890 was rebuilt in 1894 after the original was carried away by ice. It eventually developed into a fairly elaborate structure, 198 feet long. Historical documents indicate that the dock was gone by 1920 and not replaced. The wooden boardwalks were eventually replaced with concrete sidewalks. The white picket fence surrounding the property (extended to include the land around the new fog signal house in 1907) was eliminated in the middle 1920s. In 1928 city water was introduced to the dwelling and a septic tank installed. The following year, a central furnace was added (one of two former cisterns in the basement was converted to a coal bin) and indoor bathrooms incorporated on the second floor of each of the residences. Located on the north side of the dwelling, shed dormers built on either side of the square tower accommodated the baths. In the same year the most extensive interior modifications were completed. This included removing the wall between the sitting and dining room in the keeper’s side, relocating the assistant keeper’s kitchen to the spare room and removing the partition between the former kitchen and living room to make one large space. The privy and oil house were removed from the property in 1929 and the barn was moved to the east end of the property--this last change “greatly improving appearance of the place, and showing the very fine dwelling to good advantage.”[13] In the 1940s, the barn was converted into a two-car garage with a small shed addition with two doors added to its south end. At about the same time; the original fog signal building (known as the “warehouse”) was razed. In 1920, the U.S. Weather Bureau located observation equipment on the property, something not directly related to lighthouse administration. The keeper indicated that he was interested in recording this data and the bureau felt that the light station was a better location for weather observances than the current railroad depot location. The equipment was housed in a small, seven-foot-high, cupola-like structure. Located for many years between the fog signal house and residence, it was later moved to the former oil house location.	Mackinac Island State Park Commission 1968 plan of the park showing the development of the light station property as a maritime museum. This plan included the elimination of camping in the park.
George Marshall, keeper 1890-1919, and friend outside the station in about 1915. James Marshall, keeper 1919-1940. Uniforms were generally worn only on special occasions or during inspections.	Keeping the Light In an age when light stations functioned with maintenance intensive equipment, it was necessary to have personnel on hand 24 hours a day. Many of the technological changes introduced in the first half of the twentieth century still required intensive labor. The vast majority of square footage at the light station was not for the housing of the fog signal or the light, but to provide living space for the caretakers of this equipment. The crucial element to ensure the proper operation of a light station and ultimately the safety of mariners was people. The 1850s reform of the Lighthouse Service resulted in better selection and training of light keepers. The days of political patronage in appointments had long since passed when Old Mackinac Point began operation in 1890. During its seven decades of activity, four men served as keepers. Each was married with a family and two had earlier served as assistant keepers at Old Mackinac Point. Ten or more other men served as either assistant or second assistants, although the names and service dates of the assistants have not yet been accurately compiled. Other men served for briefer periods as either laborers or temporary assistants at the station, often when one of the keepers was on leave. The first keeper at Old Mackinac Point was George Marshall (1844-1932). Born at Fort Sackets Harbor, New York, he was the son of Sergeant William Marshall. William, known as the “Old Sergeant,” served as ordnance sergeant at Fort Mackinac from 1848 until his death in 1884--the longest serving soldier in the fort’s history. While his father was caretaker of the temporarily abandoned fort during the Civil War, George served in the U. S. Cavalry. He was wounded during Sherman’s March to the Sea and spent nine months in Libby Prison. Mustered out of the army due to impaired hearing, he returned to Mackinac Island in 1868 and married Irish immigrant Margaret Garrity in 1870. In the 1870s, George, like four of his brothers, entered the lighthouse service and became keeper at Waugoshance Point. In 1890 he assumed duties at Old Mackinac Point with the completion of the fog signal building, probably residing in nearby Mackinaw City until the lighthouse was completed. George served at Old Mackinac Point for 29 years, retiring in 1919. He and Margaret had no children of their own, but raised two boys, first their adopted son James in the 1880s who had been born on Mackinac Island and then George’s nephew Chester B. Marshall in 1908 after the death of his mother. Chester’s father, Charles, had served as assistant keeper at Old Mackinac Point from 1900-1902.[14] George’s adopted son, James (1882-1941), served from his father’s retirement in January 1919 until retiring following a stroke in 1940. He entered the service in 1903 at Muskegon and later served at Waugoshance and White Shoals.[15] He and his wife Frances raised three children: George, James and Madonna. In his two-decade-long career at Old Mackinac Point, James oversaw the greatest physical changes at the station, including the electrification of the light and the addition of the radio beacon.
The third keeper of the light, Henrik Olsen (1890-1970), served at Old Mackinac Point as assistant keeper from 1933, assuming keeper’s duties following James Marshall’s 1940 retirement. Born in Norway, as a child he moved with his family to Aloha, south of Cheboygan. In 1908 he and his brother went to sell a cow in Cheboygan; there Olsen was asked if he was interested in work as a laborer at Old Mackinac Point. He took the job, serving one month, before moving on as a laborer and eventually assistant keeper at Waugoshance. Olsen also served at White Shoal, Little Point Sable and Racine, Wisconsin before coming to Old Mackinac Point as assistant. Olsen and his wife Nila had two sons: Ray and Bruce. Olsen was apparently the first staff member at the station to own an automobile and used the old signal house/warehouse as a garage. Within a few years after his arrival, Keeper Marshall also acquired a car and the barn was converted into a garage. When Olsen became keeper, he and his family continued to live in the “assistant keeper’s” side of the dwelling until he retired in 1951.[16] John Campbell (1898-1963) became keeper after Olsen’s retirement. He served for seven years, and witnessed the closing of the station in 1957. He had been an assistant keeper at the light since 1944. Born on Beaver Island, Campbell served 37 years in the U.S. Life Saving Service and the Bureau of Lighthouses. Campbell and his wife Edna had five children: Jane Marie, Helen, Richard, Kathleen and Diane. Campbell moved to Point Betsie Light Station in Frankfort after the closing of Old Mackinac Point. He died in 1963, four months before his scheduled retirement date. During the seven decades of operation, the keepers of the station witnessed changes in the administration of lighthouses. The Treasury Department’s Lighthouse Board eventually became administratively cumbersome. The system was organized into the Bureau of Lighthouses under the Department of Commerce in 1910 with a single commissioner at its head. In 1939, due to federal reorganization, the service was moved from its independent position to the Coast Guard in the Treasury Department.[17] The changes in administration had little effect on the day-to-day operation of the lighthouse. Old Mackinac Point remained active each year throughout the navigation season, usually from sometime in late March or early April until late January or early February. The competent career staff in place throughout the system ensured a smooth transition from one administrative unit to another. One constant throughout the history of the lighthouse was the level of care expected by the keepers. Standards were high and enforced through routine inspections from the district office. Any keeper found failing to meet the high standards of the service would be discharged. Maintenance of the light was the keeper’s paramount duty. Detailed instructions on nearly every aspect of the job were carefully spelled out by the Lighthouse Service. It required constant care to keep the lantern lit and the clock mechanism working. Every five hours, the keeper needed to wind the weights back up the tower. The lamp needed to be fueled as well—and he hauled the kerosene as needed from the oil house up to the tower. The fog signal engines required an equal level of care to ensure readiness, and constant watching when they were operating. The glass and brass work of the lens and the lantern windows needed daily cleaning and polishing. The journals of the keeper are a litany of cleaning, scrubbing and polishing. The level of cleanliness in the residence was expected to be at the same level as the light and the engine room. Keeper’s son Dick Campbell recalled that his father “always seemed to be scrubbing or polishing” and that, if he left shoes on the stairs or under the bed, his father would “get a good chewing out” by the lighthouse inspector.[18] Windows needed to be cleaned, porches swept and the grounds raked and cleaned. After the weather observation equipment was installed in the 1920s, the keeper also had to take daily readings. In addition to these daily chores, there were also weekly and seasonal tasks such as snow shoveling, splitting and piling kindling wood, thawing the engine supply pipes, checking auxiliary equipment and painting. In fact, so much painting was required, it was almost a routine chore. The watchroom, tower stairs, engine components, pipes and other metal work were regularly scraped and painted. The exterior of the lantern and metal roof of the dwelling also were painted often. The interiors and building trim were on a less stringent, but still regular, schedule.[19] Ray Olsen, son of Keeper Henrik Olsen, commented on the commitment to duty by his father and James Marshall: “Jim and Dad were really loyal. They wouldn’t even order a paint brush [to try] to save the government money. They were just terrible that way.”[20]	Henrik Olsen, keeper 1941-1951. John Campbell, keeper 1951-1957.
The Olsen family, 1943. Courtesy Ray Olsen.	The changes brought about with electrification and automation of the light eliminated several tasks and meant less cleaning of the lens. The biggest change came with the radio beacon equipment to monitor and service. Personnel were tied to one location like never before, which made things “kind of rough” for the keepers.[21] While some technology, such as city water and electricity, meant less work, the radio beacon and other innovations brought more. This included other innovations not related to navigation aids. For example, Keeper Olsen regularly reported mowing the lawn in the middle 1940s, a task George Marshall never mentioned in the 1890s.[22] Living in a Lighthouse The lighthouse service permitted keepers to have their families with them at most stations. Thus a lighthouse was truly a home. Situated on the mainland within a town, Old Mackinac Point was a desirable location for most light keepers and their families. Unlike remote locations or islands, amenities were close at hand. Supplies from the depot in Detroit usually came via the Lighthouse Service tenders and Old Mackinac Point was, at least in the early years, a holding point for supplies for other area light stations. Supplies were also received via the railroad. Stores were within walking distance. The children of the keepers attended school regularly and the families took advantage of nearby churches and social activities. Family life at Old Mackinac Point was in many ways similar to that in any small town home. Of course there were differences in that the family was living in federally owned and maintained property--property that was to be carefully tended. The wives were in the lighthouse business too, assisting in the upkeep of the dwelling and monitoring the weather. When James Marshall built a play house for his daughter Madonna at the south end of the station, this too fell under the watchful eye of the inspector.[23] The children of the keepers all recall pleasant childhoods, with their fathers having to work hard, but secure in their jobs. Living in a lighthouse seemed routine to all of them and none recall any excessive restrictions or feeling privileged. They were grateful that their family was stationed at a shore station, allowing them to attend school and make friends.
One feature about Old Mackinac Point that made it unique was that is was surrounded by a public park. The park had existed before the light station was established. It was transferred from the Village of Mackinaw City in 1904 to the State of Michigan, which placed the park under the care of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission by 1909. By the 1920s an extensive portion of Michilimackinac State Park was developed for picnicking and camping, including areass adjacent to the light station.[24] The Lighthouse Service officially instructed keepers that they "must be courteous and show them everything of interest about the station" as long as it did not interfere with duties..[25] At Old Mackinac Point, the burden of summer travelers occasionally tried the patience of the keepers. As early as May 1893, Keeper Marshall complained that there were visitors at the station pretty much all day and "they are troublesome." A month later he commented again that the station was "crowded with visitors all day" but he "denied them admittance to the tower at lighting time.[26] As a boy in the 1930s, Ray Olsen remembers being stationed at the bottom of the tower to let visitors up to take in the view.[27] Troublesome as it may have been to have visitors interrupt the daily routine, summer tourists also added an air of excitement to life at the station. Some lighthouse families developed long-lasting friendships with returning campers to the park.[28] The campground included pavilions, showers and a swimming dock. In 1933, the Park Commission sponsored a reconstruction of the Fort Michilimackinac. Ray Olsen recalls "having the whole park to ourselves...we would play down by the fort.[29] As a teenager,James Marshall's daughter Madonna worked in the souvenir shop inside the palisade.	Mackinac Bridge under construction, 1956.
	Monument In 1957 the Mackinac Bridge was completed, its southern approach cutting through Michilimackinac State Park, just west of the light station. Navigation aids placed on the bridge (552 feet above the water) easily surpassed those provided by any lighthouse. Old Mackinac Point Light Station was closed and declared U.S. government surplus property. Keeper Campbell oversaw the removal of the radio equipment, fog signal and Fresnel lens. The families moved out and the buildings stood vacant. In 1960 the Mackinac Island State Park Commission purchased the property from the United States General Services Administration and incorporated it into Michilimackinac State Park. The commission was just beginning major preservation programs throughout its system, including archaeology and an accurate reconstruction of Fort Michilimackinac. While these priorities slowed development of the lighthouse, in 1972 it was opened as the centerpiece of a maritime museum (the campground was closed in 1971). The first floor of the keepers’ dwelling was extensively remodeled as a gallery. The buildings were surrounded by an array of maritime objects including boats, anchors, buoys and a signal tower. A major attraction in the park from 1972 until 1980 was the reconstruction of the 1775 sloop Welcome. Like the western end of the park today, the entire maritime area was enclosed within a fence. Admission was gained through the visitor’s center under the Mackinac Bridge, which was specifically located and designed to serve as an entrance to both the fort and maritime sides of the park.[30] Due to falling attendance, maintenance concerns and budget cutbacks, the commission closed Michilimackinac Maritime Park in 1990. The large objects and the fence were removed. General maintenance of the buildings continued, however, as the Park Commission pondered the future use of the site. A major concern was the brick deterioration problem on the lighthouse tower and dwelling. Noted by keepers decades earlier, and worked on during the 1971 renovation, the problem continued. In 1996 the restoration and re-opening of the light station was made a priority of Mackinac State Historic Parks' strategic plan. Fundraising efforts for the preparation of a professional historic structure report to guide restoration efforts was completed in 2000. .[31] A Lighthouse Information Center was opened in the Fog Signal Building in 2000 to aid in fundraising for the restoration of the station. A phased restoration was implemented, with the goal of returning the lighthouse and grounds to their ca. 1910 appearance. By 2004 several major projects were completed, including the stroation of the roofs of the lighthouse and fog signal and restoration of the keeper's kitchen. In that same year, the lighthouse was opened to visitors as a “restoration in progress.” A key feature of the lighthouse was access to the tower, provided via a guided tour. Over the next several years, several key components of the plan were completed including moving the original barn back to the site (which had been relocated to a maintenance area in the early 1960s), reconstruction of the picket fence, landscape restoration, site entrance improvements and restoration of the buildings’ interiors. Visitors to Old Mackinac Point today encounter a station very much as it was a century ago. Once a beacon to sailors, the lighthouse now guides summer visitors into an exploration of the important history of lighthouses and shipping on the Great Lakes.

Adapted from: Steven Brisson, “Old Mackinac Point Light Station,” Mackinac History: A Continuing Series of Illustrated Vignettes. Vol. III, NO. 5. Mackinac Island: Mackinac Island State Park Commission, 2001.

Notes

[1] Plat map in E. D. Mansfield, Exposition of the Natural Position of Mackinaw City, and the Climate, Soil, and Commercial Elements of the Surrounding Country (Cincinnati: Wrightson & Co., Printers, 1857).

[2] Information on Great Lakes shipping and lighthouse development from Charles K. Hyde, The Northern Lights: Lighthouses of The Upper Great Lakes (Lansing: Two Peninsula Press, 1986) 13-20; 96-113.

[3] Information on the history of lighthouse design and administration from F. Ross Holland, Jr., Great American Lighthouses (Washington, D.C.: The Preservation Press, 1989) 15-17, 49-54.

[4] “Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse Clipping File,” and “McGulpin’s Point Clipping File” from the National Archives, Record of the United States Coast Guard, Bureau of Lighthouses, Record Group 26. Photocopies in the collection of MSHP (MSS I.8.6 Lig).

[5] Parts of the brick footing for the original Fog Signal Building were discovered during landscape work in November 2006.

[6] Metal work included the tower door, stairs, watch room floor, gallery deck, railing, circular windows and lantern components. Bid Document, John McGuire to Office of the Light-House Engineer, Detroit accompanying “Specifications for the Construction of the Metal Work for Old Mackinac Point Light-Station, Michigan,” 8 September 1891. From the National Archives, Record of the United States Coast Guard, Bureau of Lighthouses, Record Group 26. Photocopy in the collection of MSHP (MSS.F.5.2 Old).

[7] Bid Document, John P. Schmitt to Office of the Light House Engineer, Detroit accompanying “Old Mackinac Point Light Station, Specifications for Light House Tower, Keepers’ Dwelling and Outbuildings,” 18 March 1892. From the National Archives, Record of the United States Coast Guard, Bureau of Lighthouses, Record Group 26. Photocopy in the collection of MSHP (MSS.F.5.2 Old).

[8] Mackinaw Witness, 6 August 1892, p. 1.

[9] Plans “Old Mackinac Point Light Station, Michigan,” 1891. MSHP has five original sheets in its collection; a complete set is held by the National Archives (Record Group No. 26). The complete set includes seven plates of plans, elevations and details for the light house as well as site, barn and oil house plans. The sheets are signed by William Ludlow, Office of Light-House Engineer 9^th District.

[10] Mackinaw Witness, 29 October 1892, p. 1.

[11] “Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse Clipping File.”

[12] Documentation of physical changes are detailed in a 2000 historic structure report. SmithGroup, Inc., “Historic Structure Report, Old Mackinac Point Light Station, Mackinaw City, Michigan,” report prepared for Mackinac State Historic Parks, 2000. The exact date the lens was automated has not been determined.

[13] “Recommendation as to Aid to Navigation, Form 80, 25 August 1929.”

[14] “Letters to Tommy,” unpublished “letters” from Chester B. Marshall to his grandson on the genealogy of the William Marshall family, 1957-1958. Transcribed by William Robinson, 1994. Judy Ranville and Nancy A. Campbell, Memories of Mackinaw (Mackinaw City: Mackinaw City Public Library, 1976) 248-249. Keith R. Widder, Reveille Till Taps: Soldier Life at Fort Mackinac 1780-1895 (Mackinac Island: Mackinac Island State Park Commission, 1972) 53-54. Chester Marshall also became a keeper and four other nephews of George also had long careers in the lighthouse service and one of his nieces married a keeper. In addition, in 1893 George’s sister Sarah moved in with the family at Old Mackinac Point and eventually married William Barnum, the son of assistant keeper Joseph Barnum. William also entered the service, and he and Sarah returned to Old Mackinac Point from 1911 to 1919 when William took on the duties of assistant alongside his brother-in-law (Sarah and William were raising Chester’s sisters Ethel and Nora). The total years of service in the care of lighthouses by the sons, grandsons, daughter and granddaughter of William Marshall equals 330.

[15] “Journal of Light Station at Old Mackinac Point,” National Archives, Washington National Records Center, Record Group No. 26, 31 December 1941. (Photocopied bound volumes in the collection of MSHP as “Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse Logbook,” 1938-1942, Volumes 1-8.)

[16] Interview with Ray Olsen by author, 9 August 2000.

[17] Hyde: 36-46; Holland: 52-54.

[18]Notes from an interview with Dick and Nancy Campbell by Keith Widder, 1 May 1973.

[19] “Journal of Light Station at Old Mackinac Point” (“Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse Logbook,” 1890-1945, Volumes 1-8). The keepers at Old Mackinac were at least fortunate in having a stone and brick tower and dwelling that only required trim and roof painting.

[20]Olsen interview.

[21] Ibid.

[22] “Journal of Light Station at Old Mackinac Point,” (“Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse Logbook,” 1932-1938, Volume 6).

[23] Judy Ranville and Nancy A. Campbell, Memories of Mackinaw (Mackinaw City: Mackinaw City Public Library, 1976) 251.

[24] In 1915 the Park Commission hired prominent Boston landscape architect Warren H. Manning to complete a study of the park. He documented existing plantings, remnants of the fort and other features and made recommendations for trails, roads and a museum. Warren H. Manning, Landscape Designer. “Michilimackinac Park, Plan of Existing Conditions/Study for Arrangement of Roads & Paths,” Mackinac Island State Park Commission, 1915.

[25] United States Light-House Establishment, Instructions to Light-Keepers and Masters of Light-House Vessels, Washington: Government Printing Office, 1902: 5. (Photo reproduction by Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, 1989.)

[26] “Journal of Light-house Station at Old Mackinac Point,” 7 May, 11 June 1893. (“Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse Logbook,” 1890-1900, Volume 1). Dealing with visitors to the station is reported regularly in the keepers’ journals.

[27] Olsen interview. Olsen also remembers that “when the war started…[visitors were not allowed to] step on the grounds.”

[28] Ibid.

[29] Ibid.

[30] Johnson, Johnson & Roy Inc. Landscape Architects and Frank and Stein Associates, Inc. Architects, “Michilimackinac” [Report Documenting General Development Plan of Michilimackinac State Park prepared for the Mackinac Island State Park Commission], 1968; Victor Hogg, “Michilimackinac Marine Park: A Development Plan,” Mackinac Island State Park Commission, 1971.

[31] SmithGroup, Inc., “Historic Structure Report, Old Mackinac Point Light Station, Mackinaw City, Michigan,” Report Prepared for Mackinac State Historic Parks, 2000. Partial financial support for the report was provided by the Michigan Lighthouse Assistance Grant Program administered by the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.