Lighthouse Architectural Styles: Skeletal Towers

A "skeletal tower" is a metal structure of several main support legs and various cross-beams and tension rods, similiar to a radio antenna. A skeletal lighthouse will have a vertical cylinder in the center for the stairs resulting in a narrower tower than a brick, stone, or wooden lighthouse. These lighthouses stand on iron pilings, sometimes but not always screwpiles. Skeletal towers were originally used mostly for offshore locations, but in the 1880s these towers became preferred over classic brick towers. They were especially popular for large rear range lights and locations with erosion danger. In either case, the lighthouse could be disassembled and moved if needed.

Michigan Experimental / Lake Superior
Liston / Hexagona Rear Range Lights
Elevated Square Skeletal / Sanibel
Square Skeletal / Anclote
Octagonal Skeletal / Rawley Point

 

Michigan Experimental / Lake Superior
Lighthouse
State
Constructed
First Lighted
Height
Status
Notes
Whitefish Point II MI 1860-1861 1861 76 ft active  
Manitou Island II MI 1860-1861 1861 42.5 ft active  
DeTour Point II MI 1860-1861 1861   demolished (1931) replaced by DeTour Reef Lighthouse

Characteristics:Square pyramidal skeletal iron tower. The lowest skeletal section is vertical rather than sloped. Wider than later square skeletal designs. Central column goes to the ground and connects to one adjacent keeper's dwelling. Always built on dry land.
Notes: all three manufactured at the West Point Foundary, Cold Spring, NY and designed by William F. Smith.

Liston / Hexagonal Rear Range Lights
Lighthouse
State
Designer
Manufacturer
Constructed
First Lighted
Height
Watchroom?
Status
Notes
Deepwater Range Rear NJ    
1876
demolished (1956)  
Port Penn Range Rear
Liston Range Rear
DE
DE
  Kellogg Bridge Company
1877
1906
120 ft
no
disassembled & relocated
extant
 
Finns Point Range Rear NJ   Kellogg Bridge Company
1877
no
extant  
Schooner Ledge Range Rear
Michigan Island
PA
WI
   
1880
1929
disassembled (1919) & relocated (1929)
active
 
Tinicum Island Range Rear NJ    
1880
extant  
Hilton Head Range Rear
(aka Leamington)
SC Peter C. Hains (1877)  
1880
extant hexagonal lantern instead of round
Delaware Breakwater Range Rear
Boca Grande Range Rear
DE
FL
  Phoenix Iron Company
1881
1932
no
disassembled & relocated
active
now Gasparilla Island Lighthouse

Characteristics:
Tall hexagonal pyramidal skeletal iron tower.
Exclusively used as rear range lights, mostly on Delaware Bay and the Delaware River.
"Small head, big body" (per Lighthouse Directory)

 

Sanibel / Elevated Square Skeletal
Lighthouse
State
Designer
Manufacturer
Constructed
First Lighted
Height
Status
Notes
Sanibel Island FL William H. Heuer (1883)   1884 1884
102 ft
   
Cape San Blas IV FL William H. Heuer (1883)   1885 1885
90 ft
  original keeper dwellings destroyed by hurricane (1894)
tower moved 1918-1919 & 2015
Brazos River TX William R. Livermore? (1895)     1896
demolished (1967?)  
Chandeleur Island III LA     1896 Oct 31, 1896
destroyed by Hurricane Katrina (2005) elevated column connected to a boardwalk rather than directly to the keeper dwellings.
Sapelo Island II
South Fox Island II
GA
MI
      1905
1934
100 ft
disassembled & relocated (1933)
extant (inactive since 1969)
 
Belluvue Range Rear DE        
105 ft
extant elevated column connected to a wharf
built just offshore

Characteristics:
Square pyramidal skeletal iron tower.
Central column elevated off ground, with stairways connecting to two adjacent keeper dwellings.
Usually but not always built on dry land.

 

Anclote / Square Skeletal
Lighthouse
State
Designer
Manufacturer
Constructed
First Lighted
Height
Status
Notes
Cape San Blas IV original design
FL
William H. Heuer (1883) n/a n/a n/a   never built design changed to Sanibel style
Anclote Keys
FL
      1887 102 ft active  
Coney Island
NY
  Phoenix Iron Company   1890 70 ft active  
Throgs Neck
NY
  Phoenix Iron Company   1890 70 ft removed (1906)  
New Point Loma
CA
William H. Heuer (1890) Phoenix Iron Company   1891 70 ft active  
Waackaack Range Rear
NJ
? (1891)     1894 106 ft demolished (1950s)  
Crooked River
FL
      1895 100 ft active  
Marblehead
MA
William R. Livermore? (1895)     1896 105 ft    
LaPointe
WI
      1896 65 ft    
Plum Island Range Rear
WI
      1897 65 ft    
Duluth Harbor South Breakwater
MN
      1901 67 ft    
Reedy Island Range Rear
DE
William R. Livermore? (1895)     1910 110 ft   reused plans from Marblehead

Characteristics:
Square pyramidal skeletal iron tower.
Central column goes to the ground and is not connected to keeper dwellings. (Constrast to Sanibel style above.)
Always built on dry land.

 

Octagonal Skeletal / Rawley Point
Lighthouse
State
Designer
Manufacturer
Constructed
First Lighted
Height
Status
Notes
Chicago Harbor I
(Chicago North Pier)
IL     1858-1859 July 9, 1859   dismantled central column elevated above pier
no service room
lantern moved to new open-frame tower in 1885
remainder of tower dismantled in 1894
Rawley Point II
(Twin River Point II)
WI     1894 Nov 20, 1894 113 ft extant included reused sections from Chicago North Pier LH
tallest lighthouse on the Great Lakes
different watchroom and lantern design than the others
Cape Charles III VA Frederick A. Mahan (1893)   1893-1895 Aug 1895 191 ft extant  
Hog Island II VA Frederick A. Mahan (1893)   1894-1895 Jan 31, 1896 194 ft demolished (1948)  
Cape Fear NC Richard L. Hoxie (1900)   1902-1903 Aug 31, 1903 184 ft demolished (1958)  
Hillsboro Inlet FL   Russell Wheel & Foundry   Mar 7, 1907 137 ft active  

Characteristics: Tall octagonal pyramidal skeletal iron tower. Lantern has diamond-shaped glass, instead of square or triangular. Service room under lantern. (Typical of large post-Civil War brick towers, but not found in most other skeletal towers.) Central column goes to the ground and is not connected to keeper dwellings. Always built on dry land.

Foundaries That Manufactured Iron Lighthouses
Kellogg Bridge Company, Buffalo, NY
J. V. Merrick, Philadelphia, PA
Phoenix Iron Company (Paulding, Kemble, and Company), Trenton, NJ
Russell Wheel & Foundry Company, Detroit, MI
West Point Foundary, Cold Spring, NY

Sources (photos and text)::
Lighthouse Directory - Onshore Skeletal Lighthouses
US Lighthouse Society
LighthouseFriends.com
various newspaper articles