Sand Point Lighthouse in Escanaba, Michigan, photo by snapshot 720.

Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light says that a movement for the construction of the Sand Point Lighthouse in Escanaba began:

…with the completion of the Peninsula Railroad in 1864, which linked Escanaba to the iron mines of Negaunee, and the subsequent construction of ore docks in the harbor, it was clear that Escanaba was finally “on the map.” Realizing the need for a navigational aid to guide the growing maritime traffic, the Lighthouse Board again began calling for funding, and Congress responded with a duplicate of the earlier appropriation on July 2, 1864. A site for the light on Sand Point was selected soon thereafter…

By 1866, traffic entering and leaving Escanaba increased meteorically, and the Lighthouse Board determined that the harbor had grown to sufficient importance to warrant marking by a structure of greater significance than the originally proposed beacon. Estimating the construction costs of a suitable masonry structure to be $10,000, the Lighthouse Board requested an additional appropriation in its annual report for 1866. Evidently, there was considerable political support for the change as Congress appropriated an additional $9,000 for the improved structure on March 2, 1867.

The light is now managed as a museum by the Escanaba Historical Society – click for the details!

Be sure to check this out bigger and also his other lighthouse photos (slideshow)