Name/Title
Lubec Channel Light Station | Lubec, MaineDescription
SCA, p. 110:
LUBEC CHANNEL LIGHT
Also known as "the Sparkplug", Lubec Channel Lighthouse, another white cone, but 53 feettall, was constructed in 1890. Together with 44-foot tall Muholland Point Light, on Campobello Island, N.B., Canada, which was built in 1885, "the Sparkplug" guided heavy shipping traffic through the Lubec Narrows, which separates the Town of Lubec, Maine, from "the island." A lighthouse keeper was stationed on Lubec Channel Light until it was automated in 1939. Since 1962 it has shared duty guiding traffic to and from Lubec and "the island" with navigationallights of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Bridge which unites Campobello Island with Maine. JCB
From Lubec Channel Light Station National Register Nomination Form:
One of the three extant late nineteenth century ’’spark plug” lights, the 1890 Lubec Channel Light Station is composed of a wide round base clad in cast iron that supports a tapered three-stage tower. The base, which is of concrete construction embedded directly into the river channel, rises to a wide deck formerly covered by a roof. The deck is supported by a flared concave neck at the top of the tower base and is reached by attached iron ladders. Its iron railing has been removed. A door opens off of the deck into the interior quarters, and a trio of two-over-two double- hung sash windows punctuate the first level. A second pair of openings provides light to the second level and a row of bullseye windows are positioned below the bracketed walkway of the short third stage. This walkway is framed by a perimeter railing.
The third stage of the tower is punctuated by a door and one small window. An octagonal lantern with a spherical ventilator crowns the structure. A solar panel has been added to the gallery since the station’s automation.
Erected in 1890, the Lubec Channel Light Station occupies a strategic navigational location in this broad but shallow waterway. It is one of three surviving "spark plug” lights in Maine. Despite the removal of the gallery roof, the station maintains integrity of design, materials, setting and association and meets the requirements for registration as set forth in the multiple property submission "Light Stations of Maine”. The evaluation of significance has been made with reference to the associated historic contexts Maritime Transportation in Maine: ca.1600-1917 and Federal Lighthouse Management: 1789-1939.
An effort to establish a light station in the Lubec Channel was made following the completion of a dredging project. The 1883 Annual Report of the Light-House Board mentions the need for a light in order to make the channel of value to commerce at night. Throughout this period the river ports at Calais, Eastport and Lubec were thriving commercial centers much of whose livelihood was dependent upon navigation on the Saint Croix River and Lubec Channel. By 1888 Congress had appropriated a total of $52,000 for construction of the station. It was put into service on December 31, 1890, and automated in 1939.
Lubec Channel Light Station 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 reflecting an important engineering solution to the problem of erecting a light station at this site.