Craighill Channel Lower Range Front Lighthouse

Craighill Channel Lower Range Light Front (Craighill Light) is the second oldest cast iron, “spark plug” and caisson type lighthouse in the United States.  Its design with a single-story keeper’s quarters is unique. Built in 1873, it had a fourth-order Fresnel lens with a red lantern. T he light was automated in 1964 with a 250 mm solar-powered optic.  It is one of the few lighthouses that doubled as a lighthouse marking a shoal near the Brewerton Channel Eastern Extension and a Range Light for the Lower Craighill Channel.

In July 2017, the General Services Administration launched an auction for the lighthouse. There was a total of fourteen bids, with the winning bid coming in at $96,000 on September 20, 2017.

• Keeper Bio: Goeshy, William Marion
• Keeper Bio: Lewis, John B.
• Keeper Bio: Raabe, William
• Keeper Bio: Wingate, Henry Clay
• Keeper Bio: Sterling, Henry Columbus
• Keeper Bio: Bowling, James Thomas
• Keeper Bio: Bounds, Otho
• Keeper Bio: Lewis, Frank Raymond
• Timeline: Craighill Channel Lower Range Front Light
• Craighill Channel Lower Range Front Lighthouse

Head Keepers: James T. Bowling (1873 – 1874), William H. Wise (1874), Francis M. Buckless (1874 – 1877), John B. Lewis (1877 – 1886), Frederick Burmeister (1886 – 1888), Charles Robinson (1888 – 1890), John Larsen (1890), John Baker (1890 – 1891), William Raabe (1891 – 1892), William A. Cowen (1893 – 1895), John F. Fick (1895 – 1900), Richard S. Daniels (1900 – 1903), John Berentsen (1903 – 1908), Henry C. Wingate (1908 – 1912), Christopher C. Butler (1912 – 1916), Walter L. Barnett (1916), Christopher C. Butler (1916), Jorgen B. Johansen (1916 – 1919), Lloyd V. Gaskill (1919), Jorgen B. Johansen (at least 1920 – 1925), Caleb W. Evans (1925 – ), William M. Goeshy (1929 – 1930), John R. Edwards (1930 – ), Edward B. Austin (1933 – 1941), Millard D. Crockett (1941 – 1947)

Assistants:  Edward Bell (1873 – 1874), F.M. Buckless (1874), George M. Clark (1874 – 1877), Herman Dihl (1877 – 1881), D.T. Storke (1881 – 1882), William Andoun (1882), George E. Day (1882 – 1883), Samuel S. Hendersen (1883), Jeremiah Dailey (1883), Thomas R. Rimby (1883), John T. Windsor (1883), Frederick Burmeister (1883 – 1886), James Lidder (1886), John F. Vansant (1886), Bernhard Berends (1886 – 1887), Robert E.L. Slaine (1888), Michael Sullivan (1888), George W. Abbott (1888), John Lassen (1888 – 1890), James E. Hartley (1890), Joseph Hopkins (1890 – 1891), William Raabe (1891), Henry Corson (1891), William M. Gilbert (1891), Humphrey B. Lecompte (1892), J. Thomas Wright (1892), John J. Little (1892), Otho Bounds (1892), William P. Wright (1892), Charles Kaonss (1893 – 1894), John F. Fick (1894 – 1895), John Berentsen (1895 – 1898), George Lefevre (1898 – 1899), James C. Evans (1899 – 1900), William R. Schoenfelder (1900), Henry C. Sterling (1900 – 1901), Fred F. Kemp (1901 – 1902), Sigbjorn Johnson (1902 – 1903), Petro Beloso (1903), L.C. Christensen (1903), Joseph W. Cooper (1903 – 1904), Peter S. Earle (1904), Edward Jansen (1904 – 1905), William A. Crockett (1905), Reubui Q. Willis (1905), Clarence E. Mason (1905), Robert Kuhn (1905 – 1906), Barney F. Peel (1906 – 1907), Major A. Jones (1907), Robert Callis (1907), John A. Quidley (1907 – 1908), William T. Midgett (1908), J.R. Kerby (1908 – 1910), William Miller (1910 – 1911), James L. Lewis (1911 – 1912), Frederick Raabe (1912 – 1913), Jorgen B. Johansen (at least 1915 – 1916), Christopher G. Butler (1916 – ), C.C. Midgett ( – 1917), Clarence D. Morris (1917 – ), Arthur M. Meekins (1918), Theodore S. Twiford (at least 1919), Edwin C. Tyler (1920 – ), Ulysses S. Todd (1921 – 1922 ), Frank R. Lewis (1922 – ), Caleb W. Evans ( – 1925), Edward L. Rowtan (1925), Christian Andersen (1925 – at least 1930), R.C. Peters, Millard D. Crockett (1937 – 1941)

Updated 5/29/2019

Located in the harbor entrance about 2 miles east southeast of North Point. Accessible only by boat. There is a distant view from North Point State Park. Tower closed to the public.

Craighill Lower Range Front Light Oct 2022. Photo by Greg Krawczyk