The United States of America is a federal union of 50 states and a capital district. The central state of Illinois has several historic light stations on Lake Michigan in the Chicago
area plus several pierhead lights. In addition, the Chicago Department of
Water maintains lights on each of its four current or former water intake
cribs. There are also many navigational lights on Mississippi River on the state's western border and on the Illinois Waterway, a connecting waterway between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi.
When Illinois Territory was organized in 1809 it included all of modern Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota and Upper Michigan. The state of Illinois, with its prresent boundaries, was admitted to the union as the 21st state in 1818.
There is no Chicago area lighthouse preservation group and preservation
attention has focused almost entirely on the well-known Grosse Pointe
Light in Evanston. The historic Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, shown at right, is much in need of restoration..
Aids to navigation in Illinois are maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with an Aids to Navigation Team based at Two Rivers, Wisconsin, but ownership (and sometimes operation) of historic lighthouses has been transferred to local authorities and preservation organizations in most cases.
ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS
World List of Lights. USCG numbers are from volumes 5 and 7 of the U.S.
Coast Guard List of Lights.
- General Sources
- Seeing
the Light - The Lighthouses of Illinois
- Outstanding historical accounts and photos posted by Terry Pepper.
- Illinois
Lighthouses
- Excellent photos, historical information, and travel directions from Kraig Anderson.
- Lighthouse Hunters - Illinois
- Photos and accounts by Christine and Tom Cardaci.
- Lighthouses in Illinois
- Photos by various photographers available from Wikimedia.
- Leuchttürme
USA auf historischen Postkarten
- Historic postcard images posted by Klaus Huelse.
- U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center: Light Lists
- The USCG Light List can be downloaded in pdf format.
- GPSNautical Charts
- Navigation chart for Illinois waters.
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Chicago Harbor Light, Chicago, August 2022
Google Maps photo
by Kulvir Gill
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