Property Record
8270 STATE HIGHWAY 57
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | BAILEYS HARBOR UPPER RANGE LIGHT |
|---|---|
| Other Name: | BAILEYS HARBOR LIGHT |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 25924 |
| Location (Address): | 8270 STATE HIGHWAY 57 |
|---|---|
| County: | Door |
| City: | |
| Township/Village: | Baileys Harbor |
| Unincorporated Community: | Bailey's Harbor |
| Town: | 30 |
| Range: | 28 |
| Direction: | E |
| Section: | 17 |
| Quarter Section: | SE |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: | SW |
| Year Built: | 1869 |
|---|---|
| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1988 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Front Gabled |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Clapboard |
| Architect: | BREITBACH, ANDREW |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Baileys Harbor Range Light |
|---|---|
| National Register Listing Date: | 9/21/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' entitled 'Baileys Harbor Range Lights' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation-Public History. GABLED CUPLA ON JERKINHEADROUND ARCHED WINDOW IN CUPOLASEE ISF [Date Cnst:(PLAQUE)] These lights are unique in Wisconsin and rare among the lighthouses of the upper Great Lakes. Most other harbors used single lights to warn ships of hazards or mark the entrance to a port. But Baileys Harbor employed two beacons to guide ships into the bay. At four miles' distance, a ship's captain would align the white and red lights into a vertical plane and head straight in toward the anchorage. By helping ships move safely around the complicated sandbars at the entrance to the bay, the lights, built in 1869, opened the door for Baileys Harbor to become a port. Carpenter Andrew Breitbach of Detroit erected one of the range lights on the beach, the second 60 rods inland. He placed the lower light in a white wooden tower sheathed with vertical weatherboard. The first story is about 8 feet square with a lancet window; the second story is octagonal with a low-pitched faceted roof. The light itself, a fixed red lens, shone 22 feet above the water through a rectangular single-pane window. Breitbach placed the upper range light--a fixed white lens 39 feet above water level--in a gabled wooden room atop the gabled roof of the keeper's house. The house itself, one and one-half stories tall and clad in clapboard, has a small shed-roofed porch with decorative wooden columns. A privy and an oil-storage house complete the historic complex. The range lights served Baileys Harbor until the 1960s. Today, the keeper's house serves as a summer residence for naturalists at the Ridges Sanctuary, a wildlife refuge conceived in part by Prairie landscape architect and conservationist Jens Jensen. Covenant/Easement: From 5/28/1991 to 5/28/1996. A 'covenant file' exists for this property. It may contain additional information such as photos, drawings and correspondence. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |