Split Rock Lighthouse
North Shore of Lake Superior
One single storm may have prompted the building of Split Rock Lighthouse along Lake Superior's North Shore. On Nov. 28, 1905, a gale damaged or destroyed nearly 30 ships. Some called the area "the most dangerous piece of water in the world."
Built on a 130-foot cliff, the octagonal lighthouse tower is a steel-framed brick structure with concrete trim and a concrete foundation set into rock. In 1910 the only way to reach split rock was by boat. When the Lake Superior International Highway was completed in 1924, tourists could drive past Split Rock by car.
The light was retired in 1969 and is now part of the Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, operated by the Minnesota Historical Society. Just a few years later in 1975 the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, a Great Lakes freighter sank. On each anniversary of this shipwreck, the lighthouse emits a light in memory.
Split Rock Lighthouse
North Shore of Lake Superior
One single storm may have prompted the building of Split Rock Lighthouse along Lake Superior's North Shore. On Nov. 28, 1905, a gale damaged or destroyed nearly 30 ships. Some called the area "the most dangerous piece of water in the world."
Built on a 130-foot cliff, the octagonal lighthouse tower is a steel-framed brick structure with concrete trim and a concrete foundation set into rock. In 1910 the only way to reach split rock was by boat. When the Lake Superior International Highway was completed in 1924, tourists could drive past Split Rock by car.
The light was retired in 1969 and is now part of the Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, operated by the Minnesota Historical Society. Just a few years later in 1975 the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, a Great Lakes freighter sank. On each anniversary of this shipwreck, the lighthouse emits a light in memory.