Cape Vincent Breakwater Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

At that time the keeper lived in quarters he rented in town. To reach the lights, he was provided a small boat, stored in a rented boathouse, that he would row to the breakwater. The Lighthouse Board deemed it essential for the “efficient and proper care of the station” that a dwelling and boathouse be built on conveniently located land. A request was made for $5,000 to procure a proper site and construct the buildings.

According to the 1907 Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board, the eastern beacon was moved 500 feet towards the easterly end of that recently completed section of the breakwater. A lifeline made of 7/8th-inch cable and supported by two-inch wrought-iron pipe posts spaced ten feet apart was installed on the eastern end of the breakwater to be used by the keeper in times of storm.

John LaRoque was serving as keeper of the Cape Vincent Breakwater Lights in 1904 when a case was brought against him by James Stratford, a blacksmith in Cape Vincent, “to recover damages for the alleged alienations of the affections of the plaintiff’s wife,” who at the time of the complaint was living out of town with her mother. No outcome of the case was found in subsequent editions of the newspaper that carried the article announcing the claim.

Eventually, the temporary breakwater lights were replaced by squat white towers topped by octagonal lantern rooms in which fifth-order Fresnel lenses were installed. The one surviving tower was removed from the breakwater to its current location in 1951.

References

1. Annual Report of the Light House Board, various years.
2. Oswego Daily Palladium, November 8, 1904.