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 About the LightsHistory of the Lights Quick Stats Glossary Photo Gallery Get Involved Preservation Volunteer Donate Contact Us Plan Your Visit Events Museum Hours & Location Area Attractions
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History of the Fairport Lights By Carol Poh Miller Beginning in the 1820’s, Fairport served as a fueling station and supply depot for steamboats. A lighthouse was first established here in 1825. The conical brick tower, built on high ground on the east bank of the river, was designed by Jonathan Goldsmith, well-known architect of Ohio’s Western Reserve. Between 1827 and 1831, in response to a citizen petition, the U.S. Government improved the harbor, building docks and piers. Early commerce of the harbor, which consisted primarily of the forwarding trade, had almost vanished by the Civil War due to competition from newly build railroads, but after 1877, when Fairport was connected by railway with the steel mills of Youngstown and Pittsburgh, the small harbor was transformed into a busy transshipment point for ion ore and coal. Fairport’s first lighthouse was in “hazardous condition” by 1868, and in 1870-71 a new stone tower with an attached brick keeper’s dwelling was built on the same site. Government construction of breakwaters in the early 1900s resulted in the creation of an outer harbor approximately 7,600 feet long by 2,000 feet wide, in addition to the lower 1 ½ miles of the Grand River. After 1910, the establishment of the extensive lakefront plant of Diamond Alkali (later Diamond Shamrock) Company, a heavy importer of Michigan limestone and exporter of sodium products manufactured from the salt underlying its site, further increased harbor traffic. In 1917 the U.S. Bureau of Lighthouses appropriated $42,000 for the improved of aids to navigation at Fairport Harbor, including the construction of a new combination light and fog signal station on the west breakwater pierhead. Plans for the new light station were approved in 1920 by Tenth District Lighthouse Superintendent Roscoe House. World War I and inadequate funding delayed construction and the structure was not completed until 1925. Steelwork for the new light station was fabricated and assembled at the Buffalo Lighthouse Depot, then shipped to the site aboard the steamer Wotan, arriving in Fairport Harbor on June 21, 1921. On June 9, 1925, an occulting white light of 4,500 candlepower, operated by electricity supplied by small oil-engine generators, was exhibited for the first time. The fog signal, an air diaphone, was powered by tow oil-engine air compressors. Upon installation of the new breakwater light, the old light station on the mainland was abandoned. Fairport’s iron ore docks ceased operation in 1946; its coal dock shut down in 1964. In 1965, the Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Light was automated with the installation of new alternating-current equipment.
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