Oswego West Pierhead Lighthouse

Time Line

1930      Federal Rivers and Harbors Act is approved; includes plans for the expansion of Oswego Harbor to accommodate large deep-draft Great Lakes vessels.

1931      Harbor expansion project begins; eastern end of the outer breakwater is removed.  The Oswego Breakwater Beacon Lighthouse is decommissioned and removed. 

1932      Design of the new Oswego West Pierhead Lighthouse is completed.  The first design is for a two story lighthouse, the final design is for a single story lighthouse.

1933      Construction of the caisson by the US Army Corps of Engineers is completed.  Construction of the lighthouse by the US Lighthouse Service begins.

1934      Construction of the Oswego West Pierhead Lighthouse is completed and the lighthouse begins operation.   The lighthouse includes the light and a fog horn.

1936    A radio beacon transmitter is added to the lighthouse to enable ships with a radio direction finder to

     take a bearing on the lighthouse in poor weather.

1939      The US Lighthouse Service is dissolved and the US Coast Guard assumes responsibility for all US

Lighthouses.  The keeper and the two assistant keepers at the Oswego West Pierhead Lighthouse enlist in the US Coast Guard in 1941.

1942      Tragedy strikes Oswego Harbor and the Oswego West Pierhead Lighthouse when an assistant keeper

            along with 5 other Coast guard personnel  loose their lives during an exchange of personnel at the

            lighthouse in Dec. 1942.

1968        The Coast Guard converts the lighthouse to automatic operation and removes the resident keeper

 personnel. 

1995   The Coast Guard converts the lighthouse to solar operation.  The 4th order Fresnel lens that was

       installed in the lighthouse in 1934 is removed.  The lens is loaned to the H. Lee White Marine

       Museum where it is now the featured component of an exhibit about the Oswego lighthouses.

2000          The Oswego West Pierhead Lighthouse is placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

2006          The Oswego West Pierhead Lighthouse is declared excess by the US Coast Guard.  The lighthouse

 is available for transfer to a qualified recipient.  The City of Oswego begins the application process

 in partnership with the H. Lee White Marine Museum.

2009          The City of Oswego is awarded the Oswego West Pierhead Lighthouse

2010          The City of Oswego forms the Oswego Lighthouse Development Committee to oversee the restoration of the lighthouse and its development as a component of the Oswego Maritime District.

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