Sabine Bank Lighthouse -- Sabine Pass TX
N 29° 44.089 W 093° 53.646
15R E 413535 N 3289736
The Sabine Bank Lighthouse was built in 1906 and served until decommissioned and extinguised in 2001. In 2002 the top 25 feet of the lighthouse was removed. This section of the old light was relocated to a park in Sabine Pass TX in 2004.
Waymark Code: WMG512
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/13/2013
Views: 6
When the historic Sabine Bank Lighthouse was going to be demolished in 2001, two longtine civic-minded friends from Sabine Pass banded together to secure the top 25 feet of the lighthouse for the city park. The refurbished lantern was installed in Bert Karrer/Lions Community park in 2004.
From the Lighthouse friends website:
"In the Gulf of Mexico, roughly sixteen miles south of the entrance to the Sabine River, Sabine Bank lies hidden a mere twenty feet below the surface of the water. In 1888, Congressman William H. Crain proposed a lightship for Sabine Bank, which measures about thirty miles long and five miles wide.
... a decade later, the Lighthouse Board finally did recommend the construction of a lighthouse to warn the numerous deep-drafted vessels now calling at Port Arthur of the potential offshore danger, and Congress appropriated $40,000 in 1900 and 1901 for the project.
. . .
The lowest bid submitted for the job was from the Russel Iron and Foundry Company of Detroit Michigan, which offered to supply the metalwork for a lighthouse that would rest on a caisson foundation sunk into the shoal. . . .
After the metalwork arrived from Detroit by railway, the lower courses of the caisson were assembled onshore and then towed to the offshore site on June 24th, 1904.
. . .
The tower, fully staffed with a keeper and three assistants, first exhibited the light from its third-order Fresnel lens on March 15, 1906.
Given its remoteness, keepers often served several weeks or even months at the Sabine Bank Lighthouse before being relieved, which might explain why it was difficult to secure and retain keepers for the station. The district superintendent in New Orleans complained, “It has been necessary to pick up men who were not on the eligible roster, wherever they can be secured, in order to fulfill frequent vacancies at this isolated station.”
. . .
To save the $5,409 annual expense of staffing the Sabine Bank Lighthouse, an acetylene lantern was placed in the Fresnel lens in August of 1922, and the last resident keepers left the station. After being manned for just seventeen years, the lighthouse was fully automated.
The tower was temporarily occupied during World War II as a coastal lookout station. In 1960, the light source was converted to a 150-watt lamp, powered by a 32 Volt DC battery. However, with no live-in keepers to care for the tower, it was steadily falling into a state of disrepair. Had the lighthouse been closer to shore, the required maintenance would have been much easier and more affordable.
The Fresnel lens was removed from the lantern room in 1971, and the tower was converted to solar power. Finally, when the condition of the lighthouse threatened the safety of those sent to maintain the light, the decision was made in 2001 to replace the tower with a steel, skeleton structure.
On March 1, 2001, the Coast Guard published a notice soliciting bids for the reconfiguration of the Sabine Bank Lighthouse. The notice stated, "The work consists of demolishing and removing the lighthouse structure above the caisson foundation, replacing the structural main deck at the top of the caisson and installing a new 55-foot tall steel skeleton tower on the main deck. Additionally, the caisson foundation will be rehabilitated with all steel surfaces above the water line to be blasted and painted and installation of new access ladders and main deck handrails. The estimated price range is between $500,000.00 and $1,000,000.00."
Astron General Contracting of Jacksonville, North Carolina was awarded the contract to reconfigure the lighthouse and began the work in late January of 2002. The top section of the lighthouse tower and the lantern room were dismantled and returned to shore, where they were refurbished by R.L. Eldridge and William D. Quick and placed them on display at Lions Park in Sabine Pass, Texas. The original third-order Fresnel lens, manufactured in Paris by the firm of Barbier, Benard, and Turenne, can be seen at the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur." [end]
Original Location: N 29° 28.975 W 093° 40.093
How it was moved: Disassembled
Type of move: Region to Region
Building Status: Private
Related Website: [Web Link]
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