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| The Milwaukee Pierhead Light dates to 1906. |
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| Milwaukee Pierhead Light trail map. Click for larger version. |
The Milwaukee Pierhead Light – built in 1906 – sits on Milwaukee River’s mouth with Lake Michigan. It is near where the Kinnickinnic River flows into the Milwaukee in Milwaukee’s historic Third Ward. The walk runs 0.11 miles round trip.
To reach the lighthouse, from the intersection of Interstate 794 and Wis. Hwy. 32, head south on the latter. Turn left/east onto East Erie Street. The street ends at a parking lot just before the pier leading to the lighthouse. Head out onto to the concrete pier to the lighthouse.
Ruby red, lake blue
The 42-foot round steel tower, consisting of eight circular rungs that “telescope” up, sits at the end of the pier. Painted ruby red, on sunny days it contrasts beautifully with the lake’s blue waters.
It’s often called a twin to the Kenosha North Point Light, as they are similar in style.
The lighthouse with its round parapet and 10-sided lantern, both painted black, replaced another light that was erected at the site in 1872. Neither light sat at the natural mouth of the Milwaukee River but at the “North Cut,” an entrance developed in 1852 to improve the harbor. Prior to the project, the river flowed into Lake Michigan a half-mile south of the cut.
Pierhead Light had a keeper until 1926 when the Milwaukee Breakwater Lighthouse was built across the harbor from it. Today the light is automated and operated by solar power.
Hank Aaron Trail
Directly east from the Pierhead Light and several hundred yards into the lake is the Milwaukee Breakwater Lighthouse. Built in 1926, it sits at the end of a breakwater to mark the harbor entrance. The 53-foot tower sits atop a concrete pier that rises 20 feet above the water. Atop the pier is a keeper’s dwelling with the tower rising 14 feet from its roof. The Breakwater Light can’t be reached by foot.
Hikers aren’t allowed inside the Pierhead Light but can walk up to it. Despite that, it’s a popular destination, as it sits on the popular Hank Aaron Trail. Named for the Milwaukee Braves baseball great, the trail runs 12 miles from west of the State Fair Park to Discovery World north of the lighthouse.
If extending the hike via the Hank Aaron Trail, don’t go west but north along Lake Michigan. The western route heads toward and under I-794, a visually and sonically unappealing sight.
Going north, however, the trail is quite scenic as it heads through Lakeshore State Park and connects to the Milwaukee Art Museum and Discovery World campus as well as the Henry W. Maier Festival Park where Summerfest is held.
