Built in 1893, the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse sits at the northern breakwater. It used to sit at the mouth of the Chicago River, but it was moved to its current location in 1919. You see a structure like this and you can't help but think about the history of lighthouses. PBS had a special back in the late nineties that featured America's lighthouses (PBS). It was there that I found out that the first lighthouses were mere bonfires on the shore, and the light from those fires would guide the ships safely to land. Then came the structures, and oil lamps, and still the need of people to tend the protective light. Eventually, electricity made the need for the light tender unneccessary. But the lighthouses still grab our attention. There is a great effort, worldwide, to restore and maintain these structures, if only as historical artifacts.
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