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Photograph of Ontonagon Light
Photograph by rossograph, CC BY-SA 4.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Ontonagon Lighthouse

Built in 1853. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

From the record

“The Ontonagon Light is a lighthouse located off M-64 near Ontonagon, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1973.”

Wikipedia article Ontonagon Light, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 6 National Register listings published here for Ontonagon County · listed in 1975 · category: Structure · built in 1853.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. Off MI 64, Ontonagon, 49953
  • When was it listed? October 1975
  • Category. structure
  • Township. Ontonagon township
  • When was it built? 1853
  • National Register reference number. 75000960 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

6 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Ontonagon Lighthouse in 1992, burning about 2 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Railroad operations and maintenance6

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
7 May 1992Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
7 May 1992Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
7 May 1992Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
7 May 1992Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
7 May 1992Railroad operations and maintenance1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
7 May 1992Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Every fire recorded in Ontonagon County

Storms near this property

21 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ontonagon, the town this property stands in, in 21 storm reports between 1995 and 2016: 10 hail, 9 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2016Thunderstorm WindOntonagon$100,000The Ontonagon Emergency Manager reported dozens of trees down in and around the village of Ontonagon, including several down on homes. Power was out in the village for nearly eight hours.
August 2011Tornado (EF0)Ontonagon$20,000A strong EF0 tornado with winds estimated around 85 mph touched down at the River Pines RV Park and Campground and then skipped northeastward across the village lifting on the east side of the Ontonagon Golf Course. Most of the damage was confined to snapped and uprooted trees, snapped power poles, a small flipped boat, minor roof damage, and some structural damage to a garage. There were no injuries.
May 2010Flash FloodOntonagon$15,000The Ontonagon Sheriff's office reported roads in and near Ontonagon washed out due to heavy rainfall of two to three inches which fell in less than an hour. Flooding on River Street in Ontonagon forced water over the sidewalks and into some area businesses.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindOntonagon$2,000Several 8-12 inch diameter trees blown down across roads.
September 2011HailOntonagon-Quarter and dime-sized hail were reported with the storm. Winds were estimated up to 65 mph as well.
September 2011HailOntonagon-Several large branches were also reported down due to strong thunderstorm winds.
May 2010Thunderstorm WindOntonagon-The Ontonagon Sheriff's office reported branches and small trees down in Ontonagon due to thunderstorm winds.
May 2010Thunderstorm WindOntonagon-One inch hail and 60 mph winds were reported.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindOntonagon-Tree down blocking southbound lane of Norwich Road.
April 2002HailOntonagon-Penny sized hail reported.
August 2001Thunderstorm WindOntonagon-8 inch diameter limbs broken off.
July 1999Thunderstorm WindOntonagon-Top of 40 foot spruce tree broken off.
July 1995Thunderstorm WindOntonagon-Winds blew a dock away.
July 1995Thunderstorm WindOntonagon-Trees blown down on cars.
May 2010HailOntonagon-no account filed
October 2007HailOntonagon-no account filed
October 2007HailOntonagon-no account filed
September 2007HailOntonagon-no account filed
July 2005HailOntonagon-no account filed
June 2000HailOntonagon-no account filed
June 1998HailOntonagon-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Ontonagon County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

3 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Ontonagon County Courthouse0.4 miles1980
Ontonagon Harbor Piers Historic District0.5 miles2001
Ontonagon School0.6 miles2011

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 75000960 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Ontonagon CountyAll 6 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.