America’s Lighthouse Legacy
Events Chronology
1716
First American lighthouse: Boston Lighthouse in Boston Harbor, MA
1719
Earliest American fog signal: a cannon near Boston Lighthouse, “to answer ships in a Fog”
1767
Buoys mentioned in construction records of Cape Henlopen Lighthouse, DE
1791
First lighthouse lit under new federal government: Portland Head Lighthouse, Portland Harbor, ME
1792
First U.S. built lighthouse: Cape Henry, Chesapeake Bay
1793
Floating beacon with 2 masts and cages for Delaware River at cost of $264 approved by President Washington
1797
First intermittent light in U.S.: “eclipsers” installed in Cape Cod Lighthouse
1812
Crude parabolic reflectors introduced in U.S. lighthouses
1812
First broad contract for maintenance of lighthouses: an act of Congress authorizing the Sec’y of Treasury to purchase Winslow Lewis’ patent for a “reflecting and magnifying lantern”
1818
First Great Lake lighthouses: Buffalo, NY and Eric, PA
1820
First mention of U.S. fog bells: appropriation for bell near lighthouse on West Quoddy Head, ME
1820
First Mississippi River Lighthouse: Franks Island
1820
First U.S. lightship: Chesapeake Bay
1822
French physicist Augustin Fresnel developed Fresnel lens, revolutionizing lighthouse practice
1840
First lighthouse tender of U.S. Lighthouse Service: former revenue cutter RUSH
1841
First installation of Fresnel Iens in U.S. lighthouse: Navesink Lighthouse
1850
First U.S.
Lighthouse erected by screwpile method: Brandywine School
1851
Air fog whistle, air trumpet and steam whistle experimentally installed at Beavertail Lighthouse, Narragansett Bay
1854
First lighthouse on U.S. Pacific Coast: Alcatraz Lighthouse, San Francisco Bay
1866
Most lights discontinued during Civil War repaired and re-lighted
1867
Lard oil generally accepted as standard illuminant replacing colza or rapeseed oil and sperm oil
1868
First siren installed as fog signal in U.S.: Sandy Hook East Beacon
1869
First annual publication of Light List by Lighthouse Service
1874
Act of Congress extends jurisdiction of Lighthouse Board over Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio Rivers
1877
Kerosene first used within lighthouse establishment, becoming principle illuminant by 1885
1881
First U.S. use of oil gas for lighted beacon
1884
Mandatory dress and fatigue uniforms introduced by Lighthouse Board for male lighthouse keepers. lightship and tender masters. mates and engineers
1887
First U.S. lighthouse on submarine foundation: Fourteen-Foot Bank, Delaware Bay
1892
First use of electric incandescent lamps in U.S. lightship
1895
First light placed by U.S. on Alaskan Coast: Sitka
1899
First wireless messages sent and received between ship and shore on east coast of U.S.: SS Ponce and Navesink, Light Station, NJ.
U.S. wireless premiere previously staged at San Francisco Lightship when one message sent repcatedly from ship to shore
1902
First U.S. use of acetylene gas for lighthouses: Mobile Channel equips beacon with generator for producing acetylene gas from calcium carbide
1903
Lighthouse Board transferred with other navigational activities from Treasury Dept. to Dept. of Commerce and l.abor
1904
Nantucket Lightship first in U.S. permanently equipped with radio communication
1912
Uniformity of methods and standards established with Lighthouse Service’s installation of uniform systems of inspection. cost-keeping and account keeping in Bureau of Lighthouses and district offices
1915
First U.S. use of Canadian diaphone for air fog signals
1915
Experimental installations of temporary unwatched gas lights for winter use at isolated Great Lake stations
1916
Lighthouse Service develops and installs at several stations a device for replacing burned-out incandescent electric lights
1921
First U.S. radio fog signals: Ambrose Lightship, NJ, Fire Island, NY and Sea Girt Light Station, NJ
1926-1933
Airway division set up as part of Lighthouse Service, to aid in air navigation
1928
First U.S. automatic radio beacon opcrated by Lighthouse Service
1929
First synchronized radio beacon and air fog signal (electric oscillator): Cape Henry Light, VA
1934
Lightship equipped by Lighthouse Service for radio remote control of all facilities. including light, fog signal and radio beacon, for use as unwatched aid
1937
Initial installations for radiotelephone broadcasting of Notices to Mariners: Sault Ste. Marie, MI
1937
Extensions of commercial electric services in U.S. makes available to Lightship Service reliable energy source for signal operation at increasing number of lighthouses
1938
Continued remote control of fog signals with modulated light beam at one Pacific and one Atlantic coast station deemed successful
1939
Total Service personnel: 5,355; Total lighthouse tender ships: 65; lightships maintained on 30 stations; total number navigational aids maintained by Lighthouse Service: 29,606
1961
First offshore Texas tower lighthouse, design similar to offshore oil rigs: Cape Cod Canal, Buzzards Bay, MA
1968
Lighthouse Automation and Modernization Program (LAMP) established, aimed at eliminating keepers, reducing personnel costs and increasing light reliability through automation
1971
Experiments with computerized Large Navigational Buoy (LNB), destined to replace manned lightships: Sandy Hook, NJ
1983
Solar power instituted at numerous lighthouse locations
1985
LNB replaces America’s last lightship, Nantucket II
1990
America’s Golden Age of Lighthouses at an end, with automation of all but first U.S. lighthouse, Boston Light
