Frozen Lighthouse, St. Joseph North Pier, Lake Michigan, North America

On June 11, 1896, after years of petitioning by the Lighthouse Board, Congress appropriated $5,000 for a steam fog signal to replace the bell, which was often ineffective. A “well” for the steam fog signal was created in the crib by removing stone from one pocket and placing therein a plank box. A ten-inch steam whistle was established on February 1, 1897, with a parabolic deflector constructed behind the whistle to focus the sound lakeward. The front range light was discontinued at this time as the beacon and signal had been moved to the end of the pier, but a pole light was established 400 feet shoreward to serve as the rear light.
• 1907-1955
After the War Department had extended the north pier, the range lights and steam whistle were relocated 1,000 feet lakeward in 1904. The present set of range lights on the north pier was constructed in 1907. The front tower consists of steel framing covered with metal sheets and tapers from a diameter of eight feet, three inches at its base to seven feet, three inches at its nine-sided lantern room. The tower was originally equipped with a fifth-order Barbier and Benard lens the produced a fixed red light.
The rear tower consists of a twenty-four-foot-square steel structure whose pyramidal roof is surmounted by an octagonal tower and circular lantern room with helical bars. A fourth-order lens manufactured by Chance Brothers was used to produce a fixed red light. The pier’s original ten-inch steam whistle, constructed by J. P. McGuire of Cleveland, Ohio, was transferred to the lower portion of the new structure. A diaphone fog signal was installed in the rear tower in 1933.