Old Fairport Harbor Lighthouse_Lake Erie Old Fairport Harbor Light

Rusted and Abandoned -

With the increase in ship traffic on Lake Erie beginning in the early 1800's, the town of Fairport Ohio was in desperate need of a lighthouse to guide mariners into the town's developing harbor. 

In 1825, the original Fairport Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters were built. 
That 30 foot high brick tower was eventually found to be sorely inadequate and not up to the task for which it was constructed.
The tower was sinking and the tower crumbling. The concrete foundation had only been two feet deep, not able to support such weight. By 1869 it was in a deteriorating condition, unsafe for occupancy let alone staying tenacious, formidable and stalwart in all conditions, warning mariners of the perils to the harbor entrance. The old Light was demolished in 1871 and by 1872 a new 60 foot high brick tower  replaced the old one but this time with a 12 foot deep concrete foundation. Both the brick Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters remained in the same location on the Hill, still overlooking the old Fairport Harbor.

Ultimately, by 1925 there were two lighthouses serving Fairport, the aforementioned 1872 version and another at the west pierhead at the harbor entrance itself. Because of the pierhead Light, the 1872 Light on the Hill as seen in the top photo became obsolete and was decommissioned. However, town's people were not so quick to let it go and refused to let it be demolished. Many years of governmental appeals, public meetings, protests and grassroots efforts, resulted in the old 1872 tower being saved from the wrecking ball. Even organizations such as The Daughters of the American Revolution participated by sending protest letters of appeal. The government finally conceded and with much jubilation from the town, ownership of the lighthouse itself was finally turned over to the Village of Fairport in 1953. Together with the Keeper's Quarters, established as a Maritime Museum in 1945, the Lighthouse on the Hill became known as the Old Fairport Lighthouse and Museum. The maritime museum became the first of its kind in the country. The old brick lighthouse can be seen at the top of the grass knoll in the photo behind the red brick museum. The semi-round one-story windowed addition to the old red brick Keeper's Quarters building is a command deck or pilothouse, salvaged from the bulk cargo carrier the Frontenac. This historic ship, renovated in 1973 and still operating on the St. Lawrence Waterway today for a Canadian shipping company, was involved in the November 1975 Lake Superior search for the sunken Edmund Fitzgerald cargo carrier that claimed the lives of 29 men. 

The rusted steel frame tower shown in the forefront of the bottom photo and currently residing at the bottom of the Hill of the old lighthouse is the temporary 1912 Fairport Harbor West Pierhead Light, removed and abandoned years ago. It is scheduled for restoration in the near future.