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Who overcomes by force, hath overcome but half his foe. -- Milton |
ARANSAS PASS LIGHT
BRAZOS RIVER LIGHT BRAZOS SANTIAGO LIGHT FORT POINT LIGHT GALVESTON JETTY LIGHT GALVESTON ISLAND/GALVESTON BAY Station Established: 1856 Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1916 Operational? NO Automated? YES Deactivated: 1972 Foundation Materials: CONCRETE Construction Materials: BRICK/STEEL Tower Shape: CYLINDRICAL OCTAGONAL Markings/Pattern: BUFF W/BLACK TRIM Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE Original Lens: THIRD ORDER, FRESNEL HALF MOON REEF LIGHT RELOCATED FROM MATAGORDA BAY Station Established: 1858 Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1858 Operational? NO Automated? UNK Deactivated: 1942 Foundation Materials: IRON SCREWPILE (ORIGINAL) Construction Materials: WOOD Tower Shape: HEXAGONAL Markings/Pattern: WHITE W/GREEN TRIM Relationship to Other Structure: INTEGRAL Original Lens: FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL LYDIA ANN LIGHT (FORMERLY ARANSAS PASS) HARBOR ISLAND/NW OF ARANSAS PASS Station Established: 1855 Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1857 Operational? NO Automated? NO Deactivated: 1952 Foundation Materials: TIMBER PILING Construction Materials: RED BRICK Tower Shape: OCTAGONAL Markings/Pattern: NATURAL W/BLACK LANTERN Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE Original Lens: FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL 1857 MATAGORDA ISLAND LIGHT MATAGORDA ISLAND/MATAGORDA BAY Station Established: 1852 Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1852 Operational? YES Automated? YES 1959 Deactivated: n/a Foundation Materials: STONE/BRICK/CONCRETE Construction Materials: CAST IRON PLATE/BRICK LINING Tower Shape: CONICAL Markings/Pattern: BLACK Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE Original Lens: THIRD ORDER 1852 POINT BOLIVAR LIGHT BOLIVAR PENINSULA/GALVESTON BAY Station Established: 1852 Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1873 Operational? NO Automated? UNK Deactivated: 1933 Foundation Materials: NATURAL/EMPLACED Construction Materials: CAST IRON W/BRICK LINING Tower Shape: CONICAL Markings/Pattern: BLACK Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE Original Lens: PORT ISABEL (POINT ISABEL) LIGHT BRAZOS SANTIAGO PASS Station Established: 1853 Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1853 Operational? NO Automated? UNK Deactivated: 1905 Foundation Materials: NATURAL/EMPLACED Construction Materials: BRICK Tower Shape: CONICAL Markings/Pattern: WHITE Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE Original Lens: 15 LAMPS, 21 REFLECTORS 1854 GENERAL INFORMATION: When Fort Polk was abandoned, after the Mexican War, the site was transferred to the Treasury Department and on September 28, 1850, Congress appropriated $15,000 "for a lighthouse and beacon light at Brazos, Santiago." The tower was completed in 1852 and was lit by four lamps, 57 feet above the ground and 82 feet above sea level. By 1854 the light had 15 lamps and 21 reflectors and was visible 16 miles. A third-order lens was installed in 1857, and the fixed light was varied by flashes. At the conclusion of the Civil War, when the southern portion of Texas was occupied by Union forces, the light station was overhauled, refitted, and relit February 22, 1866. In 1879 the Lighthouse Board reported the tower in a dilapidated condition. During a rain it was impossible to keep the lens and lamps dry as the lantern leaked "in every direction." By 1881 a new iron lantern had been erected on the tower and the following year mineral oil lamps were fitted. In 1887 a question as to the title of the United States to the land occupied by the light station was raised, and, upon investigation, it was found that the United States had no title to the land. It had been occupied by General Taylor as a camp and depot at the outbreak of the Mexican War. As no title to the land could be established, the light was discontinued on May 15, 1888, and the station abandoned. Evidence was soon presented to the Lighthouse Board that a light was needed at Point Isabel and that it would be necessary to purchase land for a site at an estimated cost of $8,000. "Upon the discontinuance of the present light" the report continues "the possession of the light structures went to the owners of the land upon which they were built. These buildings are worth considerably more than the sum for which the owners offer to sell the present site, including improvements, to the United States." Congress accordingly, in 1889, appropriated $8,000 for reestablishing the light and the purchase of land on which it stood. The owner offered to sell the site on which the station was situated for $6,000 but the United States attorney reported adversely on the title and he was directed to commence proceedings in condemnation to acquire title. When the case was called for trial in 1891 the district engineer, under instructions from the Lighthouse Board, declined to turn over the requisite amount until the title had been approved by the Attorney General. The sale was finally consummated in 1894 for $5,000 and the Board reported "The purchase has at last been consummated. The title to the site is now in the Government. The light will be shown at an early day." The light was finally re-exhibited on July 15, 1895, but 10 years later, in 1905, discontinued for good. In 1927 the site was sold to the highest bidder for $2,760. REDFISH BAR CUT LIGHT SABINE BANK LIGHT 15 MILES OFF TEXAS COAST Station Established: 1906 Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1906 Operational? YES Automated? YES 1945 Deactivated: n/a Foundation Materials: SUBMERGED. CONCRETE/IRON CAISSON Construction Materials: CAST IRON Tower Shape: CONICAL TOWER ON CYLINDRICAL PIER Markings/Pattern: RED Relationship to Other Structure: INTEGRAL Original Lens: THIRD ORDER, FRESNEL SABINE EAST JETTY LIGHT |
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1775:
The American Revolution begins as fighting breaks out at Lexington, Massachusetts.
1861: Residents of Baltimore, Maryland, attack a Union regiment while the group makes its way to Washington. 1861: President Lincoln orders a blockade of Confederate ports. 1927: In China, Hankow communists declare war on Chiang Kai-shek. 1938: General Francisco Franco declares victory in the Spanish Civil War. 1943: Waffen SS attack Jewish resistance in the Warsaw ghetto putting down the uprising. 1951: I and IX Corps reached the Utah Line, south of the Iron Triangle. 1951: General MacArthur denounced the Truman Administration before a joint session of Congress for refusing to lift restrictions on the scope of the war. 1952: The U.N. delegation informed the communists that only 70,000 of 132,000 of the prisoners of war held by the United Nations Command were willing to return home. |