National Register of Historic Places
Port Washington North Breakwater Light
Port Washington, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin
The record
- Listed
- December 7, 2018
- Type
- Structure
- Address
- 550 E Jackson St., Port Washington
- County
- Ozaukee
- State
- Wisconsin
- Contributing resources
- 2 structures
- Coordinates
- 43.38529, -87.85964
- Reference number
- 100003160
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesUSGS Historical Topographic Map CollectionUSGS Historical Topographic Map CollectionBarry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesBarry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
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 Port Washington North Breakwater Light is a lighthouse at 550 E Jackson St. in Port Washington, Ozaukee County, built in 1935 in the Art Moderne style. The U.S. Lighthouse Service was its architect; the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. built the North Breakwater in 1934.
Why it's listed
It was listed in the National Register in 2018 under criteria A and C, with local significance in transportation, maritime history, architecture and engineering; its period of significance runs from 1934 to 1968.
Physical character
The light is a square steel tower on a reinforced concrete base, with porthole windows, four stilted arch openings, a steel door and a rung ladder to its guardrailed roof. Its focal plane stands 78 feet above the water, flashing red every six seconds with an automated fog horn, while the breakwater runs 2,535 feet in rubble-mound construction.
Historical context
An earlier lighthouse built in 1849 was replaced in 1860, and a wooden pyramidal light erected at the north pier in 1889 was demolished in 1934, the same year work began on the North Breakwater. The light was automated in 1976, when its original lantern, Fresnel lens and diaphone foghorn were replaced with modern optics.