For more than 100 years, Port Dalhousie harbour was the northern terminus of the first three Welland canals, making the town a maritime destination and industrial centre. The Port Dalhousie Inner Range Lighthouse helped ships and boats enter and exit the narrow harbour. The current lighthouse is the third one constructed on this spot and was built in 1898.
Getting here
The lighthouse is located at 80 Lighthouse Rd. in St. Catharines.
A storied past – lightning strikes
At 8:05 a.m. on August 12, 1898, the lighthouse was struck by lightning, caught fire and burned to the ground. The lightning struck the centre of the tower, smashing the large revolving lamp and starting a fire. Fortunately, Captain David Hunter, the lighthouse keeper, had just gone home for breakfast and wasn't injured in the fire.
When the fire was burning fiercely, the steamer Lakeside left the harbour and paused to try and put out the flames. However, Captain Wigle thought of the large amount of oil stored in the structure and decided, for the safety of his passengers, to continue his course. Several tugs in the harbour also allowed the fire to proceed, fearing an explosion of the oil tank. Fortunately, there was no explosion. The tank was split open by the lightning, so the oil burned until it was consumed.
The new lighthouse
After the fire, the Department of Marine and Fisheries began construction on the present lighthouse in October of 1898. The lighthouse was automated in 1968 and in 1988 it was decommissioned by Transport Canada at the end of the boating season. Ownership of the lighthouse was transferred to the City of St. Catharines in 1997 and the lighthouse was designated a historical building under the Ontario Heritage Act. The Friends of the Port Dalhousie Lighthouse restored the structure from 2000 to 2002.
The restoration of the lighthouse revealed several architectural features hidden by the exterior facade. For years, the walls were clad in decorative wood clapboard and shingles, detailed in white and red. In 1984, the Coast Guard covered the walls of the lighthouse with metal siding to prevent vandals from ripping the wood siding to build fires. Some of the windows, originally on all sides of the lighthouse, were covered over to prevent vandals from accessing the building.
The four-storey frame tower gently slopes to a height of 16 metres (52 feet) and is topped by an ornate thick cornice creating a small lookout. A 12-sided lantern and a beaver weathervane surmount the tower. A circular iron railing surrounds the twelve-sided lantern with a similarly shaped metal roof.
Historic architecture
While octagonal shapes are common for coastal lighthouses, they are unusual for Great Lakes lighthouse design. The Port Dalhousie Inner Range Lighthouse is one of only three remaining lighthouses on the Great Lakes with this shape. This shape is stronger, which allowed designers to build a structure higher than the previous two lighthouses. It is considered aesthetically attractive because of its greater height, sense of scale, and use of decorative architectural detailing.
Four-pane, double-hung windows with pedimented gables are located around all sides and provide natural light inside the tower and a panoramic view of the harbour. The door is also decorated with a projecting frame topped by a small pediment.
The exterior of the lighthouse has cedar shakes over tongue-and-groove sheathing. The sheathing boards are installed diagonally to provide additional strength to the structure. The inside walls and ceilings are also finished with diagonal boards.
Prior to decommissioning, the lighthouse was red to align with the requirements from Transport Canada. Once the lighthouse was decommissioned the structure was painted white, a colour with no nautical significance.
While most lighthouses are solitary beacons, the paired set of outer (front) and inner (rear) lights at Port Dalhousie assisted mariners in aligning their approach to the narrow inner harbour.
Although the lighthouse keeper's home was located along Michigan Beach, the lighthouse had sleeping accommodations, a small kitchen and a primitive washroom in case the keeper had to stay within the structure to keep the light working. Also, there was likely an office, various control panels and places to hang charts and lamp inspection reports. Four sets of steep, straight stairs lead to the lantern and lookout. Unlike the Outer Range Lighthouse, this structure was constructed to be large enough for the keeper to work within the building.
Niagara College Sailing School
The lighthouse is home to the Niagara College Sailing School during the summer months.