Lake Michigan's Frankfort North Breakwater Lighthouse

The north breakwater lighthouse at Frankfort, Michigan, is a relatively new lighthouse compared to many other Great Lakes light towers we've visited, but this Lake Michigan harbor town has a long history as an important light station location.

We primarily know Frankfort as a summer resort town with a large number of graceful Victorian homes, pier fishing, and as the terminus of the Betsie Valley Trail, which I love as a long bicycle ride between Frankfort and the town of Beulah, but a pair of breakwaters and light towers make the harbor a great place for photographers to visit year round.

The late 1850s brought developers to Frankfort as Easterners became aware of the area's abundant natural beauty and resources. The Betsie River led from Lake Michigan the smaller inland Lake Betsie, but the booming demand for property on the small lake led developers to dredge the river to form a larger channel between two 600-foot-long piers at the river mouth in 1859--making Frankfort the northernmost improved harbor along Lake Michigan's eastern shore.

Frankfort's first lighthouse appeared in 1873 with the construction of a timber-framed pyramid-shaped structure at the end of the south pier. The tower had a red, Sixth Order Fresnel lens that sailors could see from up to 12 miles away in clear weather.

The lighthouse did not include a residence, and keepers used an elevated wooden catwalk leading from the shore to the pierhead light to keep above the Lake Michigan waves that often splashed up over the wooden pier as they maintained the light.

A south pier extension of 200 feet in 1884, construction of a small fog signal building near the light tower in 1892, and installation of a rear range light along the south pier in 1897 enhanced the Frankfort light station as the area became an important commercial port and center for railroad car ferry operations.

A new squared pyramid-shaped tower, sheathed in steel and painted white, appeared on the north pier in 1912. The new 44-foot tall light tower replaced the old south pier light tower and its fixed red Fourth Order Fresnel Lens was visible up to 12 miles away in clear weather. An elevated catwalk along the pier eased access to the light from shore, and moving the old south pierhead rear range to the north pier increased visibility. A small open frame pyramid structure with a lantern marked the end of the south pier.

Electricity came to the Frankfort pierhead lights in 1919, increasing the range of the north pierhead light to 14 miles.

Ferry traffic continued to dramatically increase at Frankfort, and the Army Corps of Engineers built two long breakwaters to protect the harbor and replace the older piers.

Workers loaded the old north pierhead light tower onto a barge to transport it to the end of the new concrete north breakwater, placing it atop a new two-story steel base. The new square base-and-pyramid tower combination stood 67 feet tall and sailors could see now see the light from up to 16 miles away in clear weather.

This light tower did not have a catwalk for access. The existence of a door about ten feet above the breakwater seems to indicate that initial plans called for a catwalk that was never built.

The importance of Frankfort as a busy car ferry port faded in the 1960s, with the last ferry leaving the city in 1967.

Frankfort remains a busy tourist town today, at least during the warmer months, but I love the quiet isolation and frozen structures created by ice coating the north breakwater light tower and a secondary navigational light on the south breakwater during Michigan's cold winter months.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Things To Do
Frankfort

Comments

[Ken Cerka]

You are not correct on when the ferries stopped. The ferries were still running in 1974 when I graduated from Benzie Central. My father didn't retire from the ferries until the fall of that year and I think they ran a couple years longer, but I'm not sure as I left for the military that fall.

[Dominique King]

Thanks for stopping by, Ken.
I suspect you are right about a late 1970s or early 1980s stop date. The historical marker in Frankfort didn't give a stop date for the ferries. I only knew the ferries definitely predated when I started going up that way in the very early 80s and took the stop date from
Terry Pepper's usually reliable lighthouse site - http://www.terrypepper.com/lights/michigan/frankfort/frankfort.htm - which gave the stop date of 1967.
Any idea when the ferries -did- finally stop running out of Frankfort?