Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T!

At the end of Chicago’s famous Navy Pier, you can see the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse in Lake Michigan. The light was built in 1893 for the Chicago World’s Fair and then moved to its current location in 1919. One of the Fresnel lenses on display at the World’s Fair moved to the Chicago Light when the fair was over. That Fresnel lens now resides in the Cabrillo National Monument in California.

The light is a modified spark plug design (it stands taller.) They later added a boathouse and fog signal room. It became part of the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. It is still an active navigational aid and is not open to visitors.

In 2005, the Coast Guard offered the lighthouse to the government. The Department of the Interior transferred ownership to the City of Chicago in 2009. In 2023, the non-profit Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse assumed ownership of the light.

We saw the light when we walked to the end of Navy Pier. We saw it again when we took the architectural boat tour. The boat mainly traveled the Chicago river, but briefly sped out to the harbor for the “thrill” ride portion.

Location: East of Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois
Designation: National Register of Historic Places
Date designated/established: July 19, 1984
Date of my visit: May 23, 2015