{{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox lighthouse | name = Rawley Point Light | image = Rawley Point Light (Manitowoc County, Wisconsin).jpg | caption = | location = Near Two Rivers, Wisconsin | coordinates = {{coord|44|12|38.821|N|87|30|31.615|W|region:US_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}<ref name=uscg7>{{cite uscgll|7|2014|}}</ref> | yearlit = {{Plainlist| * 1874 (first tower) * 1894 (second tower)}} | automated = 1979 | yeardeactivated = | foundation = | construction = {{Plainlist| * brick (first tower) * steel (second tower)}} | shape = | height = {{convert|111|ft}}<ref name="Hyde" /> | focalheight = {{convert|113|ft}}<ref name="Hyde" /> | lens = various; see text | range = {{convert|21|nmi}}<ref name=uscg7/> | characteristic = White, Flashing<ref name=uscg7/> | module = {{Infobox NRHP | name = Rawley Point Light Station | embed = yes | nearest_city = Two Rivers, Wisconsin | built = 1894 | added = July 19, 1984 | area = {{convert|1.5|acre}} | refnum = 84003706 }} }} '''Rawley Point Light''' (also known as '''Twin River Point Light''') is a lighthouse located in Point Beach State Forest, near Two Rivers, Wisconsin. At {{convert|111|ft}} tall, it is the tallest lighthouse on the Wisconsin Shore and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref name="USCG">[http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHWI.asp Rawley Point Lighthouse]</ref>
==History== Rawley Point is named after Peter Rowley, who established a trading post in the area in 1835.<ref name="LHF">{{cite web|title=Rawley Point, WI|url=http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=252|first=Kraig|last=Anderson|accessdate=2012-02-17}}</ref><ref name="digest1">{{cite web|title=A brief history of Rawley Point (Twin River Point) Lighthouse |first=Timothy|last=Harrison|url=http://www.lighthousedigest.com/Digest/StoryPage.cfm?StoryKey=125 |publisher=Lighthouse Digest |accessdate=2012-02-17}}</ref> Some accounts say that a light was established here as early as 1853, a {{convert|75|ft}} tall arrangement of four poles holding a lantern; this was succeeded by a wooden house and tower.<ref name="USCG"/>
This structure proved ill-placed, and a more substantial building was erected beginning in 1873,<ref name="USCG"/> consisting of a brick house with an attached tower, about {{convert|100|ft}} tall, in which was mounted a third order Fresnel lens.<ref name="LHF" /> This light went into service on December 7, 1874. In 1890 a steam fog whistle was added, and in 1893 a circular oil house was built.<ref name="LHF" />
The brick tower was not structurally sound, and in 1892 it was strengthened.<ref name="LHF" /> This continued to be unsatisfactory, and in 1894 a plan was conceived to replace the existing tower with a skeletal tower taken from the old Chicago Harbor Light, which was erected in 1859 and dismantled when its replacement constructed.<ref name="Hyde">{{cite book|title=The Northern Lights: Lighthouses of the Upper Great Lakes |first1=Charles K. |last1=Hyde| first2=Ann |last2=Mahan |first3=John |last3=Mahan |page=143 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aEvP0VJaedoC&dq=rawley+point+lighthouse&pg=PA143|publisher=Wayne State University Press|date=1986|isbn=0814325548 }}</ref><ref name="LHF" /><ref name="1894note">Some sources (e.g. the USCG list) claim that the skeleton light displayed at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago was re-erected here; contemporary sources, however, indicate this light was to be placed at the Waackaack Rear Range Light, and Anderson shows a drawing indicating the modifications made to the Chicago Harbor Light in adapting it for Rawley Point.</ref> This tower had to be increased in height by adding two stages of trusswork to its base; a new service room was also inserted below the lantern.<ref name="LHF" /> The new light received the lens from the old light and was first lit on November 20, 1894.<ref name="Hyde" /><ref name="LHF" /> The old tower remained standing until the next year, when it was dismantled down to the level of roof of the keeper's dwelling; at the same time, the latter was extended to encompass the stubby remains of the old tower.<ref name="LHF" />
The fog signal was upgraded to a diaphone in 1919;<ref name="LHF" /> the following year the beacon was electrified.<ref name="digest1"/> The Fresnel lens was damaged in 1952 and was replaced by twin DCB-36 Aerobeacons;<ref name="LHF" /><ref name="USCG"/><ref name="digest1"/> a fire a decade later damaged the addition to the keepers dwelling and the old tower, but they were repaired.<ref name="LHF" /> The station was automated in 1979,<ref name="LHF" /><ref name="USCG"/> but it continued to be used as a residence for Coast Guard personnel.<ref name="LHF" /> The beacon was changed again in 1987.<ref name="LHF" /> The light continues in service, as does the dwelling.
The light station was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Up until 1956, this light was referred to as the Twin River Point Light, but in that year it was given its present name.<ref name="LHF" />
{{gallery|mode=packed |File:Rawley_Point_Lighthouse,_June_1,_2013.jpg|Eastern view of the lighthouse and keeper's house |File:Rawley Point Lighthouse, June 1, northern view.jpg|View from the north of Rawley Point Lighthouse }}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Lighthouses of Wisconsin}} {{Registered Historic Places}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Lighthouses completed in 1874 Category:Houses completed in 1874 Category:Towers completed in 1894 Category:Buildings and structures in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin Category:Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Category:National Register of Historic Places in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin Category:Lighthouses of Lake Michigan