Having recovered from the Great Fire of Chicago, the Columbian Exposition was the perfect opportunity for the city to showcase itself for the nation and the world.

The influx of vessels would become staggering! Many harbor improvements were being made for the Exposition, including commissioning a new Lighthouse. This new Light was to be built at the entrance of the Chicago River close to the site of the original tower of 1832.

The Lighthouse Board ordered construction of a 48’ tower of steel plates lined with brick with the Keeper’s dwelling designed in the 18’ diameter of the tower. A ten-sided cast iron lantern room capped the tower.

With a strong desire to showcase their grasp of new technologies, the United States Lighthouse Board constructed the Spectacle Reef Light tower, an engineering feat consisting of a 111’ skeletal cast iron tower with a number of lenses including a magnificent Third Order Fresnel Lens.

Interestingly, this Third Order Lens was slated for installation in the new lighthouse in Point Loma, California. Since the completion of the new lighthouse coincided with the close of the Exposition, the Board decided to keep the lens in Chicago and the lens was installed in the Chicago tower!

A renovation of the Chicago Harbor resulted in the need of a new tower to guide ships around the southern extremity of the river into the harbor. In 1917, in an effort to avoid the expense of building a new tower, the United States Congress appropriated $88,000 to relocate the tower built in 1893 to the new breakwater.

The relocation took almost two years to complete. The new location featured two new structures, a boathouse and a 28’ square fog signal building.
Automation came in 1979, the beacon is still proudly beaming.