The United States of America is a federal union of 50 states and a capital district. The state of Iowa is in the center of the country on the west bank of the Mississippi River, north of Missouri and south of Minnesota. Iowa was established as a territory in 1838 and admitted to the Union as the 29th state in 1846. Navigable waterways in Iowa include the Mississippi River on the east and the Missouri River on the state's southwestern border. The U.S. Coast Guard Sector Upper Mississippi River, based in St. Louis, Missouri, is responsible for navigation aids on the rivers, but very few of them meet the Directory's definition of a lighthouse. All the lighthouses listed here are privately maintained. The town of Storm Lake in northwestern Iowa has become a center of lighthouse interest in the state with several working lighthouses and a number of faux lighthouses. To be listed in the Directory a lighthouse must actually serve as an aid to navigation. This means it must be located on a navigable lake or river and must be lit as a navigational aid at least during the local boating season. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. USCG numbers are from volume 5 of the U.S. Coast Guard List of Lights.
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![]() Lake Panorama Light, Guthrie County tripadvisor.com photo "provided by management" |
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![]() Harbor Lights, West Lake Okoboji, August 2021 Google Maps lake view by University of Northern Iowa GeoTREE Center |
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Minnesota | East: Illinois | South: Missouri | West: Nebraska
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Posted July 15, 2003. Checked and revised October 23, 2024. Lighthouses: 12. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.