Early pierhead light at Conneaut Photograph courtesy Gene Nieminen Second pierhead light at Conneaut Photograph courtesy Gene Nieminen 1917 Conneaut Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

As the town grew, the port became an important shipping point for grain, whiskey, and forest products in the 19th century. Today, the products shipped from the port include limestone and coal.

The port was first marked by a lighthouse on a pier in 1835. By 1885, the pier had become too deteriorated, and a light was exhibited from a tower located adjacent to the keeper's dwelling, which had been constructed at the end of Harbor Street in 1873.

In the 1890s a new Conneaut Lighthouse was built at the end of a pier. This lighthouse served until 1917, when at a cost of $125,000, a new lighthouse was built on a cement crib, located at the end of a long breakwater on the west side of the harbor. This lighthouse consisted of a unique, square two-story brick and cement edifice, with a tower rising an additional story from one corner.

In 1935, the cement lighthouse was blasted from its bedrock grip on the crib using dynamite and was replaced by a new, sleek tower costing $70,000. This modern lighthouse was nominated for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places by the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office in 1992. The petition was reviewed by Patrick Andrews and subsequently added to the list. Regarding the lighthouse, Andrews said that “in the 1930s there was a conscious effort to represent the machine age, speed and efficiency. The style of this lighthouse is a clear attempt to look modern and to make a break from the past.”

Upon completion, the 11,000-candlepower light source atop the shaft produced a beam that could be seen seventeen miles out into Lake Erie. The tower also housed a fog horn that would blast air through a 3.5 inch pipe and metal vibrator. The resulting sound could be heard from about fifteen miles. In its early years, the lighthouse was controlled remotely from a shore house by a keeper and two assistants. As ice prohibited travel on the lakes during the winter, the light was inactive from December 25 to March 1. During this break, the keepers would alternate taking vacations.

Originally painted white, the tower was later given a horizontal black band as a daymark. The lantern room from the original lighthouse was used atop the modern tower until 1972, when the light was automated and a modern beacon replaced the lantern room. Today, the tower produces alternating red and white flashes with a five second period.

A secondary light has been placed on the east breakwater as seen in the photograph to the left. This beacon displays a green light.

Pizzi Cafe commissioned local artist William E. Dalton to research and paint the various Conneaut Lighthouses that have graced the harbor through the years. These paintings now grace the walls of this popular cafe and help preserve the little-known history of the early lights.

In May of 2007, the lighthouse, deemed excess by the Coast Guard, was offered at no cost to eligible entities, including federal, state, and local agencies, non-profit corporations, and educational organizations. When no qualified owner was found, an online auction for the lighthouse was initiated on September 9, 2008. No bids were received during September, but Gary Zaremba, president of Artisan Restoration Group of New York, eventually submitted a winning bid of $35,000. This wasn't the first lighthouse purchased Zaremba, as he also won the auction for Maine's Lubec Channel Lighthouse in 2007.

Zaremba visited the Conneaut Lighthouse during the spring of 2009, and when he was unable to find a boat to take him out to his light, he waded across the harbor, scaled the detached breakwater, and walked out to the tower. Calling the acquisition of the lighthouse "a fun, interesting opportunity," Zaremba plans to open the structure to guided tours and believes that some day he may offer overnight stays in the lighthouse, whose first and second floors are the size of an average living room.

When Zaremba did not pursue a lease from Ohio for the bottomlands on which the tower stands, the lighthouse reverted to the General Services Administration. A new auction was scheduled for October 2009, but it was called of at the last minute and rescheduled for "spring 2010 or later."

References

1. “Lighthouse becomes U.S. historic site,” Kathryn E. Mahon , Conneaut News-Herald Bureau , April 23, 1992.
2. “$70,000 Lighthouse Sends Beams 17 Miles Over Lake,” Conneaut Harbor Library, June 1940.
3. “Harbor Lights! Old and New, They’ve Safeguarded Shipping,” Conneaut News-Herald, April 1941.