Key West Lighthouse

Key West Lighthouse

Key West Lighthouse
Location	Whiteheads Point in Key West, Florida
Coordinates	24°33′02″N 81°48′03″W / 24.55064°N 81.80088°W / 24.55064; -81.80088
Tower
Foundation	"Natural emplaced"
Construction	Brick
Automated	1915
Height	73 feet (22 m)
Shape	Conical
Light
First lit	1849
Deactivated	1969
Lens	13 Argand lamps with 21-inch (530 mm) reflectors

Part of a series on the
History of Key West
The Seal of Key West represents the Conch Republic in the island's culture
Landmarks African Cemetery at Higgs Beach USS Amesbury Key West Aquarium The Armory (Key West) Audubon House and Tropical Gardens Captain Tony's Saloon Key West Cemetery U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, Key West Station Ernest Hemingway House Fogarty Mansion (Fogarty House) Eduardo H. Gato House Key West Heritage House Museum and Robert Frost Cottage Key West Historic District Key West Bight Key West Lighthouse Mallory Square Martello Gallery-Key West Art and Historical Museum U.S. Naval Station (Key West, Florida) Pan Am Dr. Joseph Y. Porter House Old Post Office and Customshouse (Key West, Florida) Sloppy Joe's Southernmost House Thompson Fish House, Turtle Cannery and Kraals Truman Annex Harry S. Truman Little White House Veterans of Foreign Wars Walter R. Mickens Post 6021 and William Weech American Legion Post 168 West Martello Tower Fort Zachary Taylor Notes that a majority of this list contains sites that have been added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places or as a U.S. National Historic Landmark
People Conch (people) Henry Flagler John Geddes (politician) Ernest Hemingway Winslow Homer Indigenous people of the Everglades region José Martí Vicente Martinez Ybor Matthew C. Perry Mel Fisher Carl Tanzler Harry S. Truman
Topics Sinking of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha Key West Street Car Company The Great Fire of Key West (1886) Isaac Allerton (shipwreck) Overseas Railroad Overseas Highway Wrecking in the Florida Keys 1935 Labor Day hurricane Cubana de Aviación Flight 493 Key West Agreement Mariel boatlift Conch Republic Hurricane Wilma
Timeline Pre-history, until 1513 Spanish Rule, 1513–1763 British Rule, 1763–1783: American Revolutionary War, 1775–1783 Spanish Rule, 1783–1821: War of 1812, 1811–1814 U.S. Territorial Period, 1822–1845: Florida Wrecking Act, 1823 Federal Wrecking Act, 1825 Statehood, 1845–present: Fort Zachary Taylor, 1845 Ordinance of Secession, 1861 Civil War, 1861–1865 East Gulf Blockade Squadron, 1861 States
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The Key West Lighthouse is located in Key West, Florida. The first Key West lighthouse was a 65-foot (20 m) tower completed in 1825. It had 15 lamps in 15-inch (380 mm) reflectors.

The first keeper, Michael Mabrity, died in 1832, and his widow, Barbara, became the lighthouse keeper, serving for 32 years. The Great Havana Hurricane of 1846 destroyed the lighthouse; the USS Morris, which was wrecked during the storm, reported "a white sand beach covers the spot where Key West Lighthouse stood". Barbara Mabrity survived, but fourteen people who had sought refuge in the lighthouse tower died, including seven members of her family. (The same hurricane destroyed the Sand Key Lighthouse, eight miles (13 km) away, killing six people, including the keeper, Rebecca Flaherty, another widow of a previous keeper.) Barbara Mabrity continued to serve as keeper of the Key West Light until the early 1860s, when she was fired at age 82 for making statements against the Union (Key West remained under Union control throughout the Civil War).^[1][2]

As both lighthouses serving Key West had been destroyed in the 1846 hurricane, a ship, the Honey, was acquired and outfitted as a lightship to serve as the Sand Key Light until new lighthouses could be built. Due to efforts to reorganize the Lighthouse Board, Congress was slow to appropriate funds for the new lighthouses. The new tower for the Key West Light was completed in 1848. It was 50 feet (15 m) tall with 13 lamps in 21-inch (530 mm) reflectors, and stood on ground about 15 feet (4.6 m) above sea level. In 1858 the light received a third-order Fresnel lens. In 1873 the lantern was replaced (it had been damaged by a hurricane in 1866), adding three feet to the height of the tower. The growth of trees and taller buildings in Key West began to obscure the light, and in 1894 the tower was raised twenty feet, placing the light about 100 feet (30 m) above sea level.^[3][4]

After the Coast Guard decommissioned the Key West Light in 1969, it was turned over to Monroe County, which in turn leased it to the Key West Arts and Historical Society. The society operates the lighthouse and its associated buildings as the Key West Light House and Keeper's Quarters Museum. On display at the museum is the first-order Fresnel lens from the Sombrero Key lighthouse.^[5]

In 2020 the Key West Art and Historical Society announced they designed a new small-group visitor area at the Lighthouse because of the Pandemic.^[6]

• Key West Light House and Keeper's Quarters Museum – official site

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Key West Lighthouse.

• http://www.kwahs.org/