The Wind Point Lighthouse Keeper Friends of the Wind Point Lighthouse Fall 2016 www.windpointlighthouse.com From the President Hello Friends, What a busy board. Since the last newsletter, we have been contacting museums throughout the area to make our artifacts available to the public. It was so sad to remove them from their former home in a rush so the building that we lovingly restored can sit empty. Hopefully, the Village has future plans for the Foghorn house so they don't have a repeat of it falling into disrepair. In addition, we have had some board personnel changes: Karen Braun has left our board due to increased family responsibilities; Jim Erven left our board to dedicate himself to more pressing volunteer responsibilities. We are indebted to both of these awesome individuals for their help and hard work over their years of service. Sad as it is to say good-bye, we are honored to have three new awesome individuals join our board...Ken and Barb Wardius (yes! you have seen their names before! They are the famous lighthouse book authors and enthusiasts!), as well as Ron Coutts (the former supervisor of Caledonia and Real Racine representative!!) Pretty impressive! So here we are, the Friends of the Wind Point Lighthouse, losing the ability to do business on the grounds of the lighthouse. What's a hard working board to do? The Village has made it known that they would prefer to do the tower climbs, garden projects and brick garden on their own. How about that Village of Wind Point? They seem to be doing alright without us. We are pleased that they still allow access to the tower and are glad that their tower climbs have been a success. We are disappointed that they have not been able to conduct private tours for lighthouse enthusiasts and school children;, however, there is room for improvement by increasing their tour scope -- maybe in the future after they get a season under their belts. In light of the Village’s success, the Friends have decided to expand our scope of service to the lighthouse and the community. Seeing as the Village of Wind Point has undertaken part of the lighthouse education and beautification, the Friends will be free to expand our narrative scope a bit. There are so many stories to share and we can finally help share them. We still are going to be your Friends of the Wind Point Lighthouse and will still be conducting our education nights. However, because of restraints that we are now forced to work under, we have decided to help tell the stories of more than just those of the Wind Point Lighthouse and its caretakers. Now we are able to tell more stories about Southeast Wisconsin's Maritime Heritage. We are reinventing ourselves to serve .the community where there is a need. The Village has done us a favor by taking on the huge responsibility of tower tours, gardens and organizing the volunteers. Now we will be available to help tell more expansive stories. Yes, we’ll still tell the Wind Point stories but many others as well. Wow! It’s surprising we know! Or maybe not. We are a hard working board that has been told that its services were not needed by the Village. So the hard working board will go where there is a need. We look forward to serving you in the future. If any member of the Friends of the Wind Point Lighthouse doesn't want to be a part of the new Friends (we are working on a new working name), please let us know and we will refund your dues. The Friends look forward to sharing our future with you. Sincerely, Laura (Lauri) Tomasek President of the Friends of the Wind Point Lighthouse Board of Directors — Friends of the Wind Point Lighthouse President Lauri Tomasek Directors: Vice Pres. Jim Charnon Ron Coutts Bob Jaeck Secretary Marilyn Blood Lynne Jossart Chris Larsen Treasurer Juanita Clobes Barb Wardius Ken Wardius The Wind Point Lighthouse - Lost History By Bob Jaeck Today we take the beautiful Wind Point Lighthouse for granted. Before it was built however, there was a long forgotten debate whether it should even be built at all. Below in its entirety is an article that ran in the Racine Journal, September 25, 1878. CITY INTELLIGENCE “Not the Point for a Lighthouse. Captain McKinzie, of the Detroit Lighthouse Board, was in the city last week, and in the company with Geo Scanlan and other citizens, went up to North Point to inspect that locality to select a site for the proposed light-house. A piece of property suitable for the location of a light-house and fog signal station was to be looked over, and it was ascertained that it would be sold some time next March, subject to a mortgage. The government can therefore do nothing in the meantime but wait till the property is offered for sale. Captain McKinzie does not think, however, that the point is the proper place for a light-house, and will so state in his report to the department at Washington. He claims that the proper and only place to locate a new light to protect mariners from dangers of the reef is on the reef itself, and that sooner or later measures will be taken to have one there. He says the $40,000 appropriation can be applied towards the erection of a light- house on the reef, and will not be lost to us in case the building is not located at the point. Furthermore it seems to be the general opinion among the lake mariners that the reef is the suitable place for the light- house and not at the point.” Well the Wind Point Lighthouse was built by the government anyway and went into operation November 15, 1880. It could be presumed that to meet the concerns of Captain McKinze and the maritime community, two lights were built into its structure. The main light was from a 3rd order Fresnel lens, the second Fresnel lens was of the 5th order located in the tower just below the main lens. It shined only towards the Racine Reef with a narrow beam to warn vessels away from the Reef. With this design only one lighthouse was needed to be built, and with its’ location on the mainland, it was easy to supply, operate, and costs were kept low. There was just one major issue, as predicted; commercial vessels of all types continued to wreck on the Racine Reef. In October of 1906 a new Racine Reef Lighthouse went into operation, manned year round. The light cast towards the Racine Reef from the Wind Point Lighthouse was discontinued on January 27, 1907. After the Racine Reef Lighthouse went into service, there never again has been a commercial vessel wrecked on the Racine Reef. Before that date over 65 vessels keels hit the hardrock of the reef. Education Night “Racine Boat Building” Presented by Steve Wheeler Author of the book: An Industry Forgotten: A Half-Century of Boat-Building In Racine, Wisconsin Thursday, November 17, 2016 at 6:30 p.m. at the Yardarm Bar & Grill (The Lodge) For fifty years near the turn of the 20th century, five separate but intertwined boat companies built what was known as the Racine Boat. Many men worked for more than one company at a time. Discover what made the Racine Boat famous. And come see the ultimate visual aid; a restored vintage early 1900s 16-foot Racine Boat provided by Bruce Renquist in the parking lot of the Yardarm. Please join us for this exciting evening. We look forward to seeing you there! Thank you to those who have renewed Did you know?? their membership. For those of you who In 1828 Capt. Gilbert Knapp anchored his haven’t, there’s still time! All you have to do is boat near the mouth of the Root River and mail your membership form, along with your viewed the surrounding countryside. He felt check, to: Friends of the Wind Point strongly that it would be a prime location for Lighthouse Treasurer, P. O. Box 44067, a new community. He returned in 1834 Racine, WI 53404-7001. and founded Port Gilbert the next year. Later the area would be called Racine. .