Buffalo (Main) Light is a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

at the mouth of Buffalo River/

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

, directly across from the Erie Basin Marina in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

History

The lighthouse was established and lit in 1833 and was deactivated in 1914. The foundation material was stone molehead and the lighthouse was constructed out of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

. The shape of the tower was octagonal and was high. The lens installed in 1857 was a third order Fresnel lens. The lens was later removed to the

Buffalo History Museum The Buffalo History Museum (founded as the Buffalo Historical Society, and later named the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society) is located at 1 Museum Court (formerly 25 Nottingham Court) in Buffalo, New York, just east of Elmwood Avenue and ...

. ''Note:'' This includes This 60-foot-tall, octagonal limestone structure is the oldest still standing in its original location in the city of Buffalo. It replaced the original 1818 light on this site along the Lake Erie shore at the mouth of the Buffalo River. Presently, it is part of an outdoor museum located on the grounds of the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

Station. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. In 2010, the Coast Guard announced it would relinquish of its on the point and Congressman

Brian Higgins Brian Michael Higgins (born October 6, 1959) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for , serving since 2005. The district, numbered as the 27th district from 2005 to 2013 but as the 26th since 2013, includes Buffalo and Ni ...

obtained over $6 million to reconfigure the Coast Guard station to allow public access to the lighthouse. In April 2011, Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation approved a grant of $170,700 to repair and restore the lighthouse in anticipation of public tours. The work was completed in August 2011.

References

External links

Buffalo Main Light - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com
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* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090403022825/http://lighthouse.boatnerd.com/gallery/Erie/BuffaloMain.htm Buffalo Main Light, By Colt Edin & Dave Wobserbr>Buffalo Lighthouse, Coast Guard Base across from the Erie Basin Marina - Buffalo as an Architectural Museum websiteBuffalo Light: Guardian of the Harbor, Buffalo History Works websiteBuffalo Main Lighthouse
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buffalo (Main) Light Lighthouses completed in 1833 Transportation buildings and structures in Buffalo, New York Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Historic American Buildings Survey in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Buffalo, New York Lighthouses in Erie County, New York 1833 establishments in New York (state)

History

References

Further reading

External links