The Marquette Maritime Museum is a museum and

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 ...

located in Marquette in the U.S. state of Michigan. Since 2002, the museum has been associated with the

Marquette Harbor Light The Marquette Harbor Light is located on Lake Superior in Marquette, Michigan, a part of the Upper Peninsula. It is an active aid to navigation.Inventory of Historic Light Stations: Michigan Lighthouses Maritime Heritage Program. Pictures before ...

, a lighthouse that serves traffic in Marquette Harbor and adjacent waters of Lake Superior. The facility offers tours of the lighthouse, which remains an active aid to navigation overseen by the United States Coast Guard, and the museum specializes in the maritime history of Marquette, Lake Superior, and the iron ore trade. Lake Superior is one of the five Great Lakes.

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The Marquette City Water Works, a

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

building of Lake Superior sandstone, was built in 1891 during the Marquette Iron Range iron ore boom. The Marquette Maritime Museum Association was founded in 1980 as the old Water Works was nearing the end of its useful life. In 1984, the Association commenced Museum operations in the Water Works. In 2002, the Museum signed lease papers with the Coast Guard to offer guided, supervised public tours of the Marquette Harbor Light. In July 2016, on the 150th anniversary of the lighthouse, the Coast Guard gave the ownership deed of Lighthouse Point to the City of Marquette. Lighthouse Park is now open to the public but the Museum still offers guided tours mid-May to mid-October. The museum and lighthouse tour schedule and admission fee information can be found at mqtmaritimemuseum.com. The Museum includes a display of Fresnel lenses. This 19th-century lens technology used carefully fitted glass prisms to mathematically focus a beam of light onto the sometimes-stormy waters of the Great Lakes. Most Fresnel lenses have been rendered obsolete by high-intensity sealed beam lamps, so the lighthouses that formerly used them have transferred or lent them to the Museum. Outdoor features of the Marquette Maritime Museum include a harborside memorial to the World War II United States Navy submarines USS ''Darter'' and USS ''Dace'', two attack submarines credited with a key role in the 1944

Battle of Leyte Gulf The Battle of Leyte Gulf ( fil, Labanan sa golpo ng Leyte, lit=Battle of Leyte gulf; ) was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. It was fou ...

. These two submarines are honored here because David McClintock (''Darter'') was a Marquette resident. Commander (later Captain) McClintock was awarded the Navy Cross for the Leyte Gulf service performed by him, his crew, and his ship. The museum is located at 300 North Lakeshore Boulevard, Marquette, Michigan 49855.

References

{{authority control Historical societies in Michigan Maritime museums in Michigan Museums in Marquette County, Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites

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