South Bass Island Lighthouse Highlights Lake Erie Maritime History
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 5, 1990, South Bass Island Lighthouse stands as a memorial to the prosperous Lake Erie shipping industry which blossomed after the Civil War. A fourth-order Fresnel lens. lit by oil, went into service in 1897 as a specific aid to navigation for vessels running from Cleveland and Sandusky, Ohio, to Toledo, Ohio, and beyond.
Islander Annie Parker informs us, “The lighthouse property was purchased from Alfred and Mary Bayless Parker. That Alfred the First was a stone mason who built the Lime Kiln.”
According to the Minnesota Historical Society, “After 1894, the shipbuilding industry began producing steel tow-barge consorts for the powerful new steamers. The barges were copies of the steam bulk freighters, often with the same dimensions, though not fitted with boilers or engines. Like their wooden forebears, they were towed up and down the Lakes. Thirty of these barges were constructed between 1894 and 1902, ranging from 350 to more than 500 feet in length. Some steamers towed barges in the grain trade as late as 1965. A few of the big barges were ultimately fitted with engines and converted into powered freighters. Steel ships continued to grow after the turn-of-the-century with improvements in technology and changes in the methods of hull-framing.”
Case Western University reports, “The Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Co. inaugurated regular overnight passenger service between Detroit and Cleveland in 1869. It lasted until 1951. The huge sidewheel steamers were a familiar and popular sight, first as they docked near the old Main St. bridge over the Cuyahoga River, and later at the elaborate terminal constructed on the lakefront at E. 9th St. The CLEVELAND BUFFALO TRANSIT CO., incorporated in 1892, also operated sidewheelers—to Buffalo, Toledo, the Lake Erie islands, and Cedar Point until it ceased operations in 1939, the victim of the automobile.”
1962 was the year the lighthouse was deactivated by the U.S. Coast Guard. Today, the lighthouse and grounds are owned by Ohio State University and serve as part of the Ohio Sea Grant Program.
Visitors stroll the South Bass Island Lighthouse property with admiration and feel a real sense of how important its location is in Lake Erie maritime history.
