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 Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. 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 Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

. The facility offers tours of the lighthouse, which remains an active aid to navigation overseen by 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 ...

, 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 The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

Description

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 Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Type ...

, was built in 1891 during the

Marquette Iron Range The Marquette Iron Range is a deposit of iron ore located in Marquette County, Michigan in the United States. The towns of Ishpeming and Negaunee developed as a result of mining this deposit. A smaller counterpart of Minnesota's Mesabi Range, thi ...

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 lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) for use in lighthouses. It has been called "the invention that saved a million ships." The design allows the c ...

es. 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 A parabolic aluminized reflector lamp (PAR lamp or simply PAR) is a type of electric lamp that is widely used in commercial, residential, and transportation illumination. It produces a highly directional beam. Usage includes theatrical lightin ...

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 The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

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 The Navy Cross is the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps' second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors and marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The medal is eq ...

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

Description

See also

References