Name/Title
Whitlocks Mill Light Station | Route 1, Calais, MaineDescription
Built:1909
Address:
U.S. Route 1, South
Calais, Maine
From Sunrise County Architecture (2nd revised and enlarged edition) 1996, p.108:
WHITLOCKS MILLS LIGHT STATION (Calais)
Whitlock's Mills Light was built in 1909, serving Calais harbor and the upper St. Croix River. In 1892 a beacon (red lantern) was the first aid to merchant shipping on both Canadian and United States sides of this international river, on the south side of the river within the City of Calais, at the Narrows. The 32-foot white light tower, built on a granite foundation, has a shaft of brick, crowned by an eight-side lantern, with door and roof. Since it was automated in 1968, the keeper's house and three other buildings have been bought by a private citizen, but it had been manned 59 years. This light has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1988. KFM, JCB
From Whitlocks Mill Light Station National Register Nomination Form:
Situated on the south bank of the St. Croix River, Whitlocks Mill Light Station consists of a detached conical brick tower, a two-story stuccoed, gambrel roofed keeper's house, as well as a brick oil house, a pyramidal bell house and a hip roofed shed. The entire complex was built in 1909.
1. LIGHTTOWER-CONTRIBUTING STRUCTURE
The light tower rests on a granite base. Its brick shaft rises to a narrow iron walkway with railing that projects beyond the conical tower. Behind the railing is an octagonal lantern with a polygonal roof and spherical ventilator. A door is located in the west face of the brick shaft.
2. KEEPER'SHOUSE-CONTRIBUTING BUILDING
The L-shaped keeper's house, which faces the river, is composed of a projecting two-bay gambrel roofed east end and an enclosed porch carrying across the recessed wall of the ell. Four six-over-six windows, a pair on each story, occupy the north gambrel end along with two small attic windows. There is one pedimented dormer on the recessed ell and a pair on the two-bay east elevation. The fenestration pattern in the south gambrel end is similar to the one on the facade.
3. SHED-CONTRIBUTING BUILDING
A rectangular hip roofed shed adjoins the house's east elevation, It is sheathed in wood shingles.
4. OILHOUSE-CONTRIBUTING BUILDING
To the northeast of the dwelling is the brick oil house. Typical of other similar surviving buildings at Maine light stations, it features a gable roof and a centrally located door surmounted by a narrow vent in one end.
5. BELLHOUSE-CONTRIBUTING BUILDING
One of only a few extant pyramidal bell houses in Maine, this wooden frame building is covered in wood shingles. Its south facing front elevation contains a door and narrow rectangular vent.
Whitlocks Mill Light Station was established in 1909 as a guide to the upper St. Croix River and the harbor at Calais. It was the last station built in Maine. The complex retains integrity of design, setting and association that meet the requirements for registration as described in the multiple property submission ’’Light Stations of Maine”. The significance of Whitlocks Mill has been evaluated with respect to the associated historic contexts Maritime Transportation in Maine: ca.1600-1917 and Federal Lighthouse Management: 1789-1939.
During the nineteenth and early twentieth century the St. Croix River was a heavily trafficked waterway on which vessels of all types carried a variety of cargoes from commercial centers located along both the United States and Canadian sides of the river. The construction in 1856 on Dochet Island of the St. Croix River Light Station (destroyed) underscores the significance of the waterway. Beginning in the 1820s Calais, situated just to the northwest of Whitlocks Mill light, developed into an important lumber shipping turminal. By the turn of the century the community contained a long and varied list of general merchants and manufacturers. Despite access to the Washington County Railroad much of the city’s commerce continued to be dependent on maritime transportation. Not until 1892, however, had the Light-House Board placed an aid to navigation at this site. The red lantern affixed to a tree was finally replaced by the present light station in 1909. The light has been automated and the ancillary buildings sold to a private citizen.
The light station at Whitlocks Mill derives significance under criteria A and C. Criteria A is satisfied by the association of the complex with Maine’s critical reliance on maritime transportation and the aids that made navigation possible. Criteria C is met by the station’s distinctive character that embodys early twentieth century light station design and construction.