Split Rock Lighthouse was built in response to the great loss of ships during the famous
Mataafa Storm of 1905, during which 29 ships were lost or damaged on Lake Superior. The octagonal building is a steel-framed brick structure with concrete trim on a concrete foundation set into the rock of the cliff. It is topped with a large, steel lantern which features a third order, bi-valve type
Fresnel lens manufactured by Barbier, Bernard and Turenne Company in Paris. The tower was built for a second-order lens, but when construction went over budget, only enough funding remained for the smaller third-order lens. The lens floats on a bearing surface of liquid
mercury which allows near frictionless operation. The lens is rotated by an elaborate clockwork mechanism that is powered by weights running down the center of the tower which are then reset by cranking them back to the top. When completed, the lighthouse was lit with a
kerosene oil vapor lamp. At the time of its construction, the area had no roads. All building materials and supplies arrived by water and were lifted to the top of the cliff by crane. The lamp was first lit on July 31, 1910. The lighthouse soon became a tourist attraction for sailors and excursion boats thanks to its scenic location. So much so, that in 1924 a road (now
Minnesota State Highway 61) was built to allow land access. In 1940, the station was electrified, the lamp was replaced with a 1000-watt electric bulb, and the incandescent oil vapor lamp was moved to Au Sable Point Lighthouse in Northern Michigan. Split Rock was upgraded with a
fog signal housed in a building next to the light tower. The original signal was a pair of sirens driven by two Franklin gasoline-driven air compressors manufactured by Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company. In 1932 gasoline engines were replaced with diesel engines. The steam sirens were replaced with a Type F-2-T
diaphone (be-you) type signal in 1936. The station and the fog signal were electrified four years later, but discontinued in 1961. The light was retired in 1969 by the
U.S. Coast Guard. The lighthouse is now part of the
Split Rock Lighthouse State Park and is operated by the
Minnesota Historical Society. The site includes the original tower and lens, the fog signal building, the oil house, and the three keepers' houses. It is restored to appear as it did in the late 1920s. The site was added to the
National Register of Historic Places in 1969. Notwithstanding its retirement, every November 10 the lighthouse emits a light in memory of the
SS Edmund Fitzgerald which sank on that date in 1975. On June 30, 2011, the lighthouse was designated as a
National Historic Landmark. The lighthouse keeper, Lee Radzak, worked at the lighthouse from 1982 to 2019, the longest tenure of any lighthouse keeper at the site. ==In art==