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| The North Point Lighthouse was lit in 1888 and elevated in the 1910s. |
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| Oak Leaf Trail map to lighthouse. Click for larger version. |
The 0.4-mile round tip walk on a segment of the Oak Leaf Trial heads to the North Point Lighthouse in Milwaukee’s Lake Park.
To reach the lighthouse, from the intersection of Interstate 43 and West Locust Street, head east on the latter. Turn right/south on Wis. Hwy. 32 (aka North Lake Drive). Enter the park by going left/east onto East Newberry Boulevard. Next, take a right/south on North Lake Road. The parking lot is on the road’s left/east side. Walk south onto Oak Leaf Trail at the lot’s southwest corner.
The paved trail curves through the verdant park. After crossing a bridge over a ravine, go right/west to the lighthouse. A red brick sidewalk heads north from it to the keeper’s quarters.
Rising over the quarters is the 74-foot cast iron tower. It marks the northern end of Milwaukee Bay.
Second lighthouse
The North Point light wasn’t the first station at the bay’s north point, and its construction did not come without controversy.
In 1855, a 28-foot cream city brick lighthouse was constructed on a bluff to place the beacon 107-feet above the water. At the time, it was the highest on the Great Lakes. During the 1870s, though, shore erosion caused 16 feet of the front yard to fall to the beach, so plans were made to build a new lighthouse 100 feet inland. The current tower was constructed and then lit in 1888.
During the 1890s, the city established Lake Park even though the lighthouse grounds split it in half. Soon trees planted at the park obscured mariners’ view of the lighthouse beacon. When the city refused to cut the trees, Congress in turn refused to fund the lighthouse.
Local merchants and mariners protested, so the lighthouse was ran by local authorities. By 1909, the federal government took control of the lighthouse, and Congress authorized money to double the tower’s height, raising it to its current height and a light focal plane of 154 feet. Its beacon could be seen up to 25 miles away.
Cast iron staircase
The lighthouse was automated in the 1940s, but a lighthouse keeper lived there until it was taken out of service in 1994. The 2-acre grounds is now owned by Milwaukee County. Both the lighthouse and the Queen Anne-style keeper’s quarters were renovated in 2005 to their early 1900s appearance.
Hikers can head up a cast iron staircase to the top of the lighthouse for a small fee. It delivers an awesome 360 degree view of Lake Michigan and Milwaukee. The lighthouse is open for tours 1-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; you must be at least 5 years old and 38 inches tall to climb the tower.
In addition to the tower, a small museum and gift shop are on the grounds. A fourth-order Fresnel lens from 1928 and a 800-pound fog bell are on display in the keeper's quarters.
After taking in the lighthouse and grounds, you can continue the walk by heading on the Oak Leaf Trail south from the lighthouse grounds or north from the parking lot through Lake Park.
