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Name: Ashtabula Harbor Light

Nearest Town or City:
Ashtabula, Ohio, United States

Location: Entrance to Ashtabula Harbor, Lake Erie.

Click to enlarge: 19Kb   
Photo: Alan Culley
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Managing Organization:
Ashtabula Lighthouse Restoration And Preservation Soc.

Telephone: 440-964-6847

Website: http://www.ashtabulalighthouse.com

Contact Address Information:
1071 Walnut Blvd.
Ashtabula
Ohio, 44004, United States

Notes:
This lighthouse was moved to its present location and enlarged in 1916. The 1896 keeper's quarters on shore is now the Great Lakes Marine & U.S. Coast Guard Memorial Museum (also known as the Ashtabula Marine Museum). The Ashtabula Lighthouse Restoration and Preservation Society has applied to the federal government for ownership in 2003. If ownership is granted to them they plan on having tours of the lighthouse after some general cleanup and maintenance is completed. The lighthouse now has what the U.S. Coast Guard describes as a secondary light in place.

Tower Height: 40

Height of Focal Plane: 51

Characteristic and Range: Amber light.

Description of Tower: White cylindrical tower on roof of keeper's quarters.

This light is operational

Other Buildings?
1896 integral two story keeper's dwelling.

Earlier Towers?
1836: light on east pier; 1876: new tower; 1893: range lights.

Date Established: 1836

Date Present Tower Built: 1905

Tower Moved?
1916

Date Automated: 1975

Optics: 1916: Fourth order Fresnel lens (now in Great Lakes Marine & U.S. Coast Guard Memorial Museum); now modern optic.

Current Use: Active aid to navigation.

Open To Public? Museum only.

Museum?
The old 1896 keeper's house on shore now houses the Great Lakes Marine & U.S. Coast Guard Memorial Museum. The exhibits include the fourth order Fresnel lens from the lighthouse. Hours of operation are noon to 5 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from Memorial Day through through September. Call 440-964-6847 for more information.

Directions:
The lighthouse is located at the north end of the west Ashtabula breakwater. It is best seen by boat, but it can be seen distantly from the area near the former keeper's house, now a museum.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Keepers: Samuel Miniger (1837-1838); Joel H. Thomas (1838-1847); Laban Hill (1849-1851 and 1852-1853); Benjamin P. Ensign (1851); James D. Ray (1851); Salmon Ashley (1853); Saxton Bigelow (1853-1857); S. H. Belknap (1857-1861); W. D. Camp (1861-1864); M. Brown (1864); Paul H. Cheney (1864-1881); Charles Pratt (acting keeper, 1881); John H. Oakley (1881-1893); Orlo I. Mason (1893-1900); Enoch W. Scribner (1900-1902); Joseph F. Crawford (1902-1910); Tom Holtan (1910-1915); ? DeGrasse (1915); R. H. B. Scobie (1915-1921); Frank L. Sellman (1921-1929); Francis E. Comerford (1929-1932); John E. Brophy (1932-1937); Eugene A. Ray (1937-1940). FIRST ASSISTANT KEEPERS: George Vivian Codding (March 11, 1896 - March 31, 1901); Ino H. Burns (1901-1904); Fred J. Hartley (1904-1907); Clara J. Crawford (1907); Philip L. Levy (1908); Charles Stillman (1908-1910); William H. Field (1910); George Pratt (1910-1912); R. H. B. Scobie (1912-1915); P.J. Owens September (1915-1917); F. L. Sellman (1917-1919); E.B. Eger (1919-1926); Francis E. Comerford (1926-1929); Wylie E. Koepka (1929-1933); Eugene A. Ray (1933-1937); Thomas Baker (1937-1940). SECOND ASSISTANT KEEPERS: P. J. Owens (1914-1915); L. R. Witte (1915); F. L. Sellman (1915-1917); Robert Burke (1917); G.S. Briggs (1917); E. B. Eger (1918-1919 and 1926-1927); Francis E. Comerford (1919-1926); Wylie E. Koepka (1927-1929); Eugene A. Ray (1929-1933); Thomas Baker (1933-1937); Melvin W. Race (1937); W. Meyer (1938-1940); [Temporary 2nd Asst. Keepers in Sept. 1917 included Mike Nischak, George W. Bennett, and Melvin Wolcott (drafted for Army in Oct. 1917); Mike Nischak returned in October 1917; Andrew K. Solembrino reported for temporary duty in November 1917 along with H. H. Lane; E. B. Eger reported for temporary duty in March 1918). THIRD ASSISTANT KEEPERS: Edward Johnson (1920, temporary); Tom R. Bailey (1920); Wylie E. Koepka (1920-1927); Eugene A. Ray (1927-1929); Thomas Baker (1929-1933); Hoyt P. Smith (1933-1935); Stanley Ayers (1935-1937); Melvin W. Race (1937); J. Shields (1937-1938); H. N. Barr (1938-1939); E.J. Harmon (1939); L. Heim (1940); E. J. Schulz (1940)