National Register of Historic Places
Keweenaw Waterway Upper Entrance Light
Hancock Township vicinity, Houghton County, Michigan
The record
- Listed
- July 18, 2014
- Type
- Structure
- Address
- E. breakwater Keweenaw Waterway, N. end, .4 mi. offshore, Hancock Township vicinity
- County
- Houghton
- State
- Michigan
- Contributing resources
- 1 structure
- Coordinates
- 47.23453, -88.63033
- Reference number
- 14000425
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesBarry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesUSGS Historical Topographic Map Collection
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 Keweenaw Waterway Upper Entrance Light is a lighthouse on the east breakwater of the Keweenaw Waterway's north end, about 0.4 miles offshore near Hancock Township in Houghton County. Built in 1950 in the Streamlined Moderne style, it was listed in the National Register in 2014.
Why it's listed
It was listed under criteria A and C, with local significance in maritime history, transportation, architecture and engineering; the nomination gives its period of significance as 1950 to 1964.
Physical character
The light is a one-story concrete fog signal building shaped as a non-equilateral octagon with clipped corners, set on a foundation of steel sheet piling filled with rock and topped with concrete. A fifty-foot steel tower in the Streamlined Moderne style rises from its roof, with recessed alcoves, an arched dormer, and a VRB-25 marine beacon.
Historical context
From 1950 the light operated by remote control from shore, and by the 1970s its aids to navigation were fully automated, later gaining a modern automated fog signal and solar array. At the time of its listing it remained an aid to navigation maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard.