Fort Point Light is a decommissioned
lighthouse built on the third tier of
Fort Point, which is now directly beneath the south anchorage of the
Golden Gate Bridge in
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. The lighthouse is at the south end of the narrowest part of
Golden Gate
The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by t ...
strait. It was preceded by two other lighthouses in nearby locations. The present lighthouse was in operation from 1864 until 1934.
Structures
There have been three lighthouses built in the area where Fort Point stands today.
The original lighthouse, built in 1853, was a Cape Cod style lighthouse with an integral tower. It was the second lighthouse to be built on the US west coast, but it stood for only three months, and was never lit. While awaiting the arrival of its lens (from
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
), it was torn down to make room for the
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
fort.
The second lighthouse at Fort Point was a squat wooden tower with four sides that sloped up to a square watch room. It was built on the narrow ledge between the fort and the water. In 1855, the light behind its fourth-order
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 ...
was lit for the first time. Erosion undermined its foundation, and in 1863 it was torn down to make way for a bigger seawall.
Fort Point's third lighthouse was built atop the wall of the fort in 1864. It was built as a iron skeleton tower with a spiral staircase. A fifth-order lens was originally fitted, but in 1902 the lens was upgraded to a fourth-order lens, which produced alternating white and red flashes.
In 1933, when work on the Golden Gate Bridge began, a fog signal and navigational light were placed at the base of the bridge's south tower. On September 1, 1934, after the towers for the
Golden Gate Bridge were completed, the lighthouse was deactivated. The bridge would block off much of the light from the lighthouse, and as the towers were tall, they provided a more visible warning for mariners.
Keepers
Early keepers of Fort Point Light included:
* B. F. Deane (1855-?)
* J. C. Frachey (?)
* George D. Wise (1860)
* Henry Hickson (1860-?)
* John D. Jenkins (?-1863)
* George W. Omey (1863)
* Scott Blanchard (1864–1866)
* R. S. Martin (1866–1869)
* Frank Thompson (1869–1871)
* J. T. Hule (1871–1878)
*
James Rankin James Rankin may refer to:
* Sir James Rankin, 1st Baronet (1842–1915), British Member of Parliament
* James Rankin (lighthouse keeper) (1844–1921), American lighthouse keeper
* James Palmer Rankin (1855–1934), physician and political figure ...
(1878–1919)
* George D. Cobb (lighthouse keeper) (?-1939)
* The Mc Kay Family were the last to occupy the lighthouse keepers cottage.
Assistant keepers included:
* Ephrin Sohn (1856-?)
* Return J. Henter (1857–1859)
* George D. Wise (1858–1860)
* D. Dennison (1860)
* G. W. Thomas (1860)
* James Gormley (1860-?)
* James Jenkins (1860-?)
* James Heron (1860-?)
* C. H. Warren (?)
* G. W. Omey (?-1863)
* G. A. Braley (1863)
* J. J. Wickersham (1863–1865)
* Ann Blanchard (1865–1866)
* William Ferry (1866–1867)
* Mrs. Rachel L. Jones (1867–1868)
* Theresa Welch (1868)
* F. B. Morehouse (1868–1869)
* Mrs. Mary Thompson (1869–1871)
* Sophie Hule (1874–1878)
* John Riley (1878–1879)
* H. P. McKeever (1879)
* Frank P. Stanyan (1879)
See also
*
List of lighthouses in the United States
This is a list of lighthouses in the United States. The United States has had approximately a thousand lights as well as light towers, range lights, and pier head lights. Michigan has the most lights of any state with over 150 past and present l ...
References
External links
National Park Service Fort Point PageFort Point Lighthouse Page
www.us-lighthouses.com
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Lighthouses completed in 1853
Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in California
Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco
Lighthouses in San Francisco
1853 establishments in California