Documentary Outline

INTRODUCTION:

Every city has its iconic structure, and Saint Joseph is at risk of losing hers. 

Years have rolled over the head of this town and the lighthouse has been there through it all. 

The North Pier lighthouse is located at the mouth of the Saint Joseph River as it pours out into Lake Michigan. It is admired by locals and by thousands of tourists each year. 

It is one of the oldest and last remaining working lighthouses on Lake Michigan and has been featured on a United States Postage Stamp.

HISTORY: 

• The mouth of the Saint Joseph River was explored by Pierre Marquette in ????. originally called “Newburypoint” in 1829, Saint Joseph was incorporated in 1834. The first lighthouse built there was built in 1831, and was the second lighthouse on Lake Michigan after Chicago, Illinois.
• The river was an important route the ran for well over 60 miles inland towards the fertile lands of southwestern michigan and northwestern indiana. 
• planners of the city of saint joseph once bragged that saint joseph would be as important as chicago on lake michigan
• When ore was discovered in Northern Michigan, lake michigan served as an important trade route for the midwest. 

• Other lighthouses were built after this first one, including one on the South Pier, one on the Saint Joseph bluff and the iconic one built on the north pier today (built in 1834). 

• The original lighthouse headquarters have been used by the Red Cross, American Cancer Society, and Society for Crippled Children, until the year 1955.

Lighthouse Today:

• Years were not kind to the St Joseph lighthouses, the City lost its first lighthouse in 1955, which was razed to make more room for parking.The original 1832 lighthouse, the lighthouse on the bluff and the South Pier lighthouse are all gone.

• In 2008, the Coast Guard declared the lighthouses on the Great Lakes as “non-essential” and funding ceased in 2013.
• The City of Saint Joseph was the only willing buyer for their lighthouse and the funding was too great for the city budget. 

Robert Judd (former mayor of Saint Joseph) and leading citizens have come together with a plan to restore the lighthouses.

PLAN :

Hazardous materials testing

Outer light stabilization

Critical repair of structures

Inner light and fog signal building repainting

Maintain safety

Structural repairs to outer light

Repairs to inner light and fog signal building: first floor, lantern and ventilation

Catwalk repair and repainting

Provide Safe access to structures

Complete rehabilitation, new doors and wiring of fog signal building and inner light interior

Fabricated ventilation parts and doors

Catwalk painting