The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse 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 ...

located on the

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Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario, Canada. Begun in 1808, it is the oldest existing lighthouse on the

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, and one of Toronto's oldest buildings. The lighthouse is perhaps best known for the demise of its first keeper, German-born John Paul Radelmüller, whose 1815 murder forms the basis of Toronto's most enduring ghost story. Recent research has verified many aspects of the traditional tale of his death and identified the soldiers charged with but ultimately acquitted of the crime.

History

Authorized in 1803 with two other lighthouses by an Act of the

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, construction of the Gibraltar Point lighthouse did not begin until 1808. It was built to a height of and extended to in 1832. The diameter ranges from about at the base to about at the top. The base is made from stone quarried in

Queenston Queenston is a compact rural community and unincorporated place north of Niagara Falls in the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is bordered by Highway 405 to the south and the Niagara River to the east; its location at the eponymo ...

and the extension from Kingston stone. The lighthouse construction and maintenance was paid for through a harbour fee levied upon all boats entering the harbour. When completed in August 1809, the lighthouse was located from the shore. Since then, sand has built up over time so that it now stands about inland. When opened, the lighthouse was accompanied by the lighthouse keeper's cottage. It was a squared-log house clad in clapboard. It was two-stories, having two rooms on the first floor and sleeping space in the attic above. When ships approached, the lighthouse keeper would run up a flag to notify the Toronto harbour master. The cottage no longer exists. The tower light was initially an oak and glass cage, illuminated by candles. The tower switched to

sperm oil Sperm oil is a waxy liquid obtained from sperm whales. It is a clear, yellowish liquid with a very faint odor. Sperm oil has a different composition from common whale oil, obtained from rendered blubber. Although it is traditionally called an " ...

from 1832 and switched to

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

in 1863. The original

lamp Lamp, Lamps or LAMP may refer to: Lighting * Oil lamp, using an oil-based fuel source * Kerosene lamp, using kerosene as a fuel * Electric lamp, or light bulb, a replaceable component that produces light from electricity * Light fixture, or ligh ...

structure was wood and replaced with

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in 1878. An

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was installed in 1916-17 and updated in 1945. In 1958, Metro Parks took over operations and made renovations in 1961-62. Currently unused, the lighthouse is occasionally open for public tours, including on the annual

Doors Open Toronto Doors Open Toronto is an annual event when approximately 150 buildings of architectural, historic, cultural, and social significance to the city of Toronto open their doors to the public for this free citywide event. Doors Open Toronto was devel ...

weekend. Since the decommissioning of the lighthouse, smaller automated lighthouses (two located at Humber Bay Park in the west and Bluffer's Park to the east),

Toronto Harbour Light The Toronto Harbour Light is an automated lighthouse at Vicki Keith Point on the Leslie Street Spit in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Construction The concrete structure was completed in 1974 by the then Toronto Harbour Commission. It is now operated ...

, as well as floating bell or light buoys, navigational masts have been used to replace the lighthouse to provide navigational aid along Toronto's waterfront and Toronto Harbour.

John Paul Radelmüller

A local legend is that the lighthouse is haunted by its first keeper John Paul Radelmüller (often rendered incorrectly as Rademiller, Radenmuller, Radan Muller etc.), who was murdered in 1815. According to local lore, soldiers from

Fort York Fort York (french: Fort-York) is an early 19th-century military fortification in the Fort York neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort was used to house members of the British and Canadian militaries, and to defend the entrance of t ...

visited J.P. Radelmüller on the evening of January 2, 1815, in search of his bootlegged beer. But they had too much to drink and a dispute broke out, culminating in the keeper's murder. The inebriated soldiers, so it is claimed, tried to conceal their crime by chopping apart the corpse and hiding the remains. In 1893, then-keeper George Durnan searched for the corpse and found part of a jawbone and coffin fragments near the lighthouse, though it was impossible to definitively prove they were linked to Radelmüller. The veracity of the legend of the murder has long been questioned. As prominent Toronto historian Mike Filey wrote, when it came to the truth of the story of the keeper's demise, "Your guess is as good as mine." GP Lighthouse ALD

Recent scholarship has revealed more about Radelmüller's life and death. Born circa 1763 in Anspach, Germany, Radelmüller worked as a servant of royalty for twenty years, in the households of the

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and the

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, accompanying the latter to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1799. Arriving at York in 1804, Radelmüller was appointed as keeper of the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse on July 24, 1809. Radelmüller indeed suffered a violent death on January 2, 1815, aged approximately fifty-two, according to the most recent and definitive study of his murder, which confirmed the basic truth of many aspects of the popular legend. Eamonn O'Keeffe also identified the two soldiers charged with (but acquitted of) Radelmüller's murder as John Henry and John Blueman, both Irishmen of the

Glengarry Light Infantry The Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles were a light infantry unit, raised chiefly in the Glengarry District of Upper Canada shortly before the outbreak of the Anglo-American War of 1812. The unit fought throughout the war, and was disbanded shor ...

, a regiment that saw heavy action in the War of 1812. While research has verified much of the traditional tale, O'Keeffe cast doubt on some of the more dramatic elements of the story. Contrary to claims that the keeper's corpse was hacked to pieces and hidden, contemporary evidence suggests that Radelmüller's body was not mutilated, but was found after his death by 4th lighthouse keeper George Durnan and his Uncle Joe while he was a young man, and his father was the keeper. He related to John Robertson that he and his uncle had discovered bone fragments, most notably a jawbone, and fragments of a coffin 500 feet west of the lighthouse, he believed they belonged to the late Radelmüller.

Lighthouse keepers

* John Paul Radelmüller 1809-1815 * William Halloway 1816-1831 * James Durnan 1832-1854 * George Durnan 1854-1908 * Captain Patrick J. McSherry 1905-1912 * Blake Matthews 1912-1917 * G.F. Eaton 1917-1918 * F.C. Allan 1918-1944 * Mrs. Ladder 1944-1955 * Mrs. Dedie Dodds 1955-1958 * Mr. Terry Jesty 1958-1998 *Mr. Manuel Cappel 1999 - today

References

* * * * ;Notes

External links

Gibraltar Lighthouse

Eamonn O'Keeffe, New Light on Toronto's Oldest Cold Case: The 1815 Murder of John Paul Radelmüller

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110728171642/http://www.wayfarer-canada.org/09AIR/AIRmap2009.jpg Map of markers within Toronto's Outer Harbour
Aids to Navigation
''Canadian Coast Guard'' {{authority control Lighthouses in Ontario Lighthouses completed in 1808 Buildings and structures in Toronto Reportedly haunted locations in Toronto Toronto Islands

History

John Paul Radelmüller

Lighthouse keepers

See also

References

Further reading

External links