Fort
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Old Mackinac
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A Brief History of Old Mackinac Point LighthouseThe Straits of Mackinac were a focus of European activity from 1671, when the French established a mission and later a fort at St. Ignace. Abandoned in 1697, a new fort was constructed in about 1714 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 feared attack by American forces, the British moved the fort to nearby Mackinac Island. A number of the fort buildings were transported to the island for reconstruction and 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.
Searles reserved the northern tip of the village as “Old Fort Park.” 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 for a light station. Establishment & Construction
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' 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.
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. The light was first lit October 25, 1892, and construction was completed two days later. The Mackinaw Witness commented that “the light-house commenced operations last Tuesday night; and will continue to guide the mariners till the close of navigation with its red flashes.”
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 park to the State of Michigan for use as a state park: the second in Michigan after Mackinac Island.
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.
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. Historic 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 were 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 was characterized as “greatly improving appearance of the place, and showing the very fine dwelling to good advantage.” 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. 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 20th 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 Sacketts 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 an 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.)
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. 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, he moved as a child 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, prompting the barn to be 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.
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.
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 also needed to wind the weights back up the tower. The lamp needed to be fueled as well—and kerosene was hauled 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 were cleaned and polished daily. 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. 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. 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.” 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 and 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 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. 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 recalled 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 it 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 in 1909. By the 1920s, an extensive portion of Michilimackinac State Park was developed for picnicking and camping, including areas adjacent to the light station. The Lighthouse Service officially instructed keepers that they “must be courteous and polite to all visitors and show them everything of interest about the station” as long as it did not interfere with duties.
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 tower at lighting time.” 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. 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. The campground included pavilions, showers, and a swimming dock. In 1933, the Park Commission sponsored a reconstruction of Fort Michilimackinac. Ray Olsen recalls “having the whole park to ourselves…we would play down by the fort.” As a teenager, James Marshall’s daughter Madonna worked in the souvenir shop inside the palisade. 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 U.S. 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 being 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. 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. In 2004, after extensive interior efforts, the lighthouse tower and keepers' dwelling were reopened with modern, interactive exhibits and authentic period settings. Plans are underway to extend restoration efforts to the barn and site landscaping.
© Mackinac Island State Park Commission. All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be reprinted in any form without permission. Notes 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. 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). “Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse 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). 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). 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). Mackinaw Witness, 6 August 1892, p. 1. 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 9th District. Mackinaw Witness, 29 October 1892, p. 1. “Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse Clipping File.” 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. “Recommendation as to Aid to Navigation, Form 80, 25 August 1929.” “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. “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). Interview with Ray Olsen by author, 9 August 2000. Hyde: 36-46; Holland: 52-54. Notes from an interview with Dick and Nancy Campbell by Keith Widder, 1 May 1973. “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. Olsen interview. ibid. “Journal of Light Station at Old Mackinac Point,” (“Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse Logbook,” 1932-1938, Volume 6). Judy Ranville and Nancy A. Campbell, Memories of Mackinaw (Mackinaw City: Mackinaw City Public Library, 1976) 251. 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. United States Light-House Establishment, Instructions to Light-Keepers and Masters of Light-Houses Vessels, Washington: Government Printing Office, 1902. (Photo reproduction by Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, 1989). 5. “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. Olsen interview. Olsen also remembers that “when the war started…[visitors were not allowed to] step on the ground.” ibid. ibid. 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. 27 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 Department of State, State Historic Preservation Office. |
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