James Ludington loaned money to George W. Ford in 1854 for a sawmill operation on the Pere Marquette River in what was then the Village of Pere Marquette. Ford defaulted on the loan in 1859, and Ludington took over operation of the sawmill. Ludington built a boarding house in 1866 for his sawmill employees followed the next year by a large variety store. On March 22, 1873, the Village of Pere Marquette was chartered as the City of Ludington, and many of the city streets, like James, Lewis, William, Robert, Charles, Emily, Lavina, and Delia, are named after members of the Ludington family.

In 1869, the Lighthouse Board requested $6,000 to place a sixth-order beacon light on the south pier at Pere Marquette and to build a keeper’s dwelling. Congress provided the funds on July 15, 1870, and a pierhead light was erected that same year, but before title to a plot of land for the dwelling could be obtained, the balance of the funds reverted to the treasury. The 1870 lighthouse consisted of a thirty-foot-tall, wooden tower, painted white, that displayed a fixed red light using a fifth-order Fresnel lens.

1924 Ludington Breakwater Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

The light’s first keeper, William Gerard lived in an old house during his service while the Lighthouse Board made annual requests for funds to provide a proper dwelling. In December 1876, the pierhead crib and light were washed away during a heavy gale. The tower was rebuilt in the spring of the following year, and then moved 140 feet to the end of the extended pier in 1880. At this time 140 feet of elevated walkway were built to allow the keeper to reach the light at all times. On November 30, 1889, a tubular lantern light was established at the extremity of the pier to form a range with the wooden tower.

In 1892, a 754-foot-long elevated walkway was built on the south pier, using 440 feet of a walkway relocated from Michigan City and 314 feet built with new materials. On August 18, 1894, Congress appropriated $5,500 for a steam fog signal at Ludington, and a ten-inch steam whistle went into operation on January 31, 1895. The fog signal was housed in an iron-sheathed frame building built on a timber substructure and was protected from the force of the lake by a forty-eight-foot-long breakwater. The pierhead light was moved adjacent to the fog signal building in 1899 and a covered way was built between them.

After years and years of requests, Congress finally provided funds for a double dwelling for the keepers on July 1, 1898. Up to this point, the keeper had been given an annual housing allowance, which in 1890 was $60. Work on the brick dwelling, which had six rooms in each of its two apartments, began in May 1900 and was completed later that year.

On November 23, 1904, the fog signal building and attached light tower were moved 200 feet to the end of the south pier, and a steel, skeletal tower was erected 400 feet in the rear to form a reconfigured range.

Major changes for the harbor at Ludington started in 1907 when Congress authorized the expenditure of $839,000 for arrowhead breakwaters. Work on the breakwaters began in 1908, and in 1913, the Bureau of Lighthouses started requesting funds for a new breakwater light and fog signal for Ludington, which was “more important than any other port on the east shore of Lake Michigan” due to important car ferry lines that crossed Lake Michigan from its harbor.

Funds still had not been allocated by 1922, when it was noted that the “entrance between the breakwaters must be found by feeling around in the fog,” as the existing light and fog signal on the southern pier were 1,500 feet inside the entrance to the outer harbor. This truth was made clear on February 10, 1922 when Pere Marquette Car Ferry No. 18 crashed into the north breakwater, destroying a twenty-foot section.

The necessary money was finally provided, and a light and fog signal were placed in commission at the end of the north breakwater on December 30, 1924. The lighthouse is a fifty-five-foot, steel-plate tower, that was originally equipped an electric light inside a with a fourth-order lens and a diaphone fog signal operated by remote control from shore through a cable that ran along the breakwater. A backup oil engine electric generator was located near the old double dwelling, which was relocated from the south side of the harbor to the north side. The skeletal tower form the south pier was moved to the north pier, and a temporary thirty-one-foot steel, skeletal tower that had been used on the north breakwater was relocated to the south pier, from which the decayed fog signal building was removed.

Keeper Fred Samuelson had the longest tenure at Ludington and oversaw the installation of the new breakwater light. At the age of twenty-two, Samuelson went to Chicago in 1893 where he helped build a steel tower on a crib inside the breakwater and then helped cared for the lighthouse exhibit during Chicago World’s Fair. The following year, he joined the Lighthouse Service at Chicago and then was transferred to Grosse Point Lighthouse. In 1898, Samuelson was promoted to head keeper and assigned to North Manitou Island, where he married seven years later. His next transfer was to Ludington, where he served from 1909 until his retirement on June 30, 1937. For three months during the fall of 1934, Keeper Samuelson was in charge of the lighthouse exhibit at the Century of Progress in Chicago.

As additional aids to mariners, a radiobeacon was established at the station in 1927, and an auxiliary fog signal was placed on the north pierhead. A thrity-one-and-half-foot steel tower was placed at the end of the south breakwater in August 1939 after the concrete tower there was damaged by the car ferry City of Flint on January 22, 1939 and then toppled over on March 15.

The modern steel tower on the north breakwater has a unique profile that allows it to cut through crashing waves like the prow of a ship. The fourth-order Fresnel lens, manufactured by the MacBeth Evans Glass Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, served in the lighthouse until October 17, 1995, when it was replaced with a modern beacon and loaned to White Pine Village, where it is on display.

In 2005, the Ludington North Pierhead Lighthouse, deemed excess by the Coast Guard, was offered at no cost to eligible entities under the provisions of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. Following the review process, the National Park Service transferred the lighthouse to the City of Ludington in May of 2006. Shortly thereafter, the city signed an agreement with Sable Points Lighthouse Keepers Association, an organization that will maintain the lighthouse and open it to the public.

Head Keepers: William Gerard (1870 – 1878), Edward Dundass (1879), Archibald Hunter (1879 – 1882), Peter Dues ( 1882 – 1888), Edwin Slyfield (1888 – 1909), Fredrick A. Samuelson (1909 – 1937), John L. Paetschow (1937 – 1941).

Photo Gallery: 1 2 3 4 5 6

References

1. Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board, various years.
2. Annual Report of the Commissioner of Lighthouses, various years.
3. Annual Report of the Lake Carriers' Association, various years.