Restoration of Split Rock Lighthouse

2009

June 30: The restoration project is nearing completion!

The scaffolding is now down, so the lighthouse can be seen without obstruction.

The concrete portions of the lighthouse have been painted.

Restoration Project: 2009

The second year of a two-year restoration and preservation project of historic Split Rock Light Station is coming to a close. In 2008 masonry and painting work was completed on the light keeper’s dwellings, storage barns and the lighthouse.

In April, May and part of June of this year work will be completed on preserving the interior glazed brick and exterior tan brick and concrete of the lighthouse, brick and masonry work on the exterior of the fog signal building, repairs to the oil storage building, the pump house and the two storage barns.

Scaffolding around the lighthouse will be in place until mid-June as masons complete tuck pointing and brick repairs. All of the buildings are open to tour including the lens room in the lighthouse. This restoration gives visitors a chance to feel the same excitement that took place in May of 1909 when construction crews began work on the building of Split Rock Light Station.

Please call the historic site for updates at 218-226-6372.

2008

In April 2008, , the famous lighthouse on the north shore of Lake Superior was enclosed in a shell of scaffolding, plastic and netting while the 98-year old structure undergoes cosmetic work and restoration.

As part of a bonding allocation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the 2006 state legislature, the lighthouse received a new coat of black paint to the inside and outside of the lantern room at the top of the lighthouse. To prepare the cast iron lantern for painting dry ice blasting was used to remove the old peeling paint. As part of the restoration the twenty-seven curved glass windows, called storm panes, were removed, resealed and replaced to stop leaking during Lake Superior’s worst storms. Other buildings at the famous light station received attention including the three brick lighthouse keeper’s houses, the fog signal building, and two wooden storage barns, all built in 1909.