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Historical Information
The following year, the AMARANTH returned to deliver another work crew and materials for the construction of a brick 500-gallon capacity oil storage building and a frame woodshed.
With the assumption of responsibility for aids to navigation assumed by the Coast Guard in 1939, the tower was painted white with a horizontal black band around the center in order to increase its effectiveness as a day-mark. Recounting the Inspector's annual visit to the Island in 1958, retired Coast Guardsman Bill Leveille recalls the Inspector asking the station crew if they would consider painting the light themselves. On hearing that the crew was unanimously afraid of working at such heights, the Inspector then asked how much it would cost to hire a private contractor to come to the island to do the job. On hearing from Ray Demarco that a quotation had been obtained for $1,400, the Inspector pondered the situation for a few moments, and then asked if the boys would be willing to do the work for $1,000. Being that $1,000 was a lot of money in 1958, the crew immediately agreed to tackle the job, to which the Inspector responded "Well boys, that's all I wanted to know - You're in the Coast Guard, and it's part of your job - start painting!" Imagine the enjoyment of swinging in the wind at the end of a rope suspended from the gallery, painting that black band.
To this end, the Association has been restoring the fog signal building for use as a bed and breakfast inn, until the large keepers dwelling can be restored and converted to a similar purpose. The Middle Island Bed & Breakfast opened for business in 2001. Thus, we are happy to report that the
future of this station appears secure for future generations to enjoy. Middle Island Bed and Breakfast |
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As one of the final links in a growing
chain of coast lights being constructed along Huron's western shore, the
Lighthouse Board finally recommended that an appropriation of $25,000 be
made for a light and fog signal on the Middle Island's eastern shore in
its annual report of 1896. With no appropriation forthcoming, the Board
reiterated its request in each of its annual reports for the following
six years, until Congress finally responded favorably with the requested
appropriation on March 3, 1902.
The site was surveyed and preparations
for construction began the following year, with the contract for the
construction of the tower, double keepers dwelling and fog signal
awarded early in 1904. The lighthouse tender 
The
AMARANTH returned to the island
soon after the opening of navigation in 1905 along with the working
party, the iron work for the tower and the fog-signal apparatus, both of
which had been completed under contract during the preceding winter.
With work on the large two story red brick duplex keepers dwelling
completed on April 26, the crew turned its attention to the tower and
fog-signal buildings.
The red brick fog-signal building was
equipped with duplicate 10-inch steam powered fog whistles with a
prescribed repeated 20-second cycle consisting of a
3-second blast followed by 17-seconds of silence. The unpainted buff
brick tower stood 70 feet from the foundation to the center of the
ten-sided iron lantern, and 80 feet to the top of the ventilator ball.
The tower's location on a slight rise provided the fixed red 
With the pouring of concrete sidewalks
between all structures, work on the station was completed, and the light
exhibited for the first time on the evening of June 1, 1905. During that
fall and the following spring, the fog signal was operated for a total
of 157 hours, its boilers consuming some 11 tons of coal.
By 1928, the station's illuminating
apparatus had been upgraded to a 9,000 candlepower electrically powered
isophase green 
At some time that we have yet been able
to determine, the black band was painted-over with the bright red band seen on the tower today, and the work of the many keepers assigned
to the station was hidden from the world.
After automation, the station was
significantly vandalized by marauding pleasure boaters during the
1960's, and the keeper's dwelling was completely stripped of just about
everything removable. With the station decaying and in danger of further
deterioration, a group of concerned citizens in the Alpena area
incorporated the Middle Island Lighthouse Keepers Association on
February 13, 1992, with the express purpose of restoring and preserving
the structures and the history of the station for future generations.
USCG Historian's Office - photographic archives.