Craighill Channel Lower Range Front Light Station

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

The Craighill Channel Lower Range Front Light Station is a lighthouse near Baltimore, in Baltimore County, Maryland, built in 1873 on a caisson foundation.

Why it's listed

It was listed in the National Register in 2002 under criteria A and C, with local-level significance in maritime history, transportation and architecture. Its period of significance runs from 1873 to 1952, reflecting its construction that year.

Physical character

The 25-foot cast-iron-plate tower, lined with brick, rises from a round, 24-foot cement-filled cast-iron cylinder, with metal walls and roof and a cast-iron balustrade around the gallery deck. An iron pediment over the main door bears the 1873 date, and a spiral wooden staircase climbs to the watch room and the ten-sided black cast-iron lantern. It originally showed a lower range light and a separate upper navigation light; Henry Leapute of Paris reportedly made its fixed fifth-order Fresnel lens, later replaced by a 250mm acrylic lens. The tower was painted white in 1885, repainted dark red and brown in 1961 to match the caisson, and its original wooden deck gave way to treated lumber in 1995.

Historical context

The caisson was placed October 31, 1873, and the light was extinguished by ice on February 11, 1936, then relit February 24.