Marcus Hook Rear Range Lighthouse

Year Built

1915

Cost

$20,000

Type

Square

Height

105 feet

Location

Just South of Bellefonte

Automated Year

1950

First Lit

1920

Lens Type

Fourth order Fresnel lens (original), RL-24 (current)

Fog Signal

None

Year Deactivated

Active

Color

Concrete

Last Keeper - Date

James O'Connell (1951 – )

Description

The original keeper’s quarters are now a private residence. The light tower is an active aid to navigation and not open to the public.

Brief History

•  A temporary light was first exhibited on shore in 1915, before a seventy-two-foot-tall structural steel tower situated was erected atop a twenty-foot-square concrete crib supported by a pile foundation in 1918.
•  A one-story brick structure that served as a combination garage, oil house, and work area was built behind the dwelling.
•  Leslie Van Stavern Millar moved into the keeper’s dwelling in the 1930s with his wife, six children, and his father, who also had served as a keeper.
•  Members of the Coast Guard continued to occupy the dwelling at Marcus Hook until sometime around 2004, when the house was vacated and boarded up.
•  In 2010, the Coast Guard sold the property outside the NHLPA process, and the keeper’s dwelling is now a private residence.