Fort Gratiot, named after General Charles Gratiot, the engineer in charge of its construction, was established in 1814 to guard the juncture of Lake Huron and the St. The first lighthouse in this area was built in 1825 and was located approximately where the first Blue Water Bridge stands. De to poor construction and a storm, it collapsed in 1828. In 1829, a new lighthouse was built north of the military fort by Lucius Lyon, who later became one of Michigan's first U.S. The new location made it easier for ships to spot as they entered the rapids at the head of the St. Originally seventy-four feet high, the white painted brick tower was extended to its present height of eighty-six feet in the early 1860s. The first official lighthouse keeper, Colonel George McDougall, Jr., served from 1825 until his death in 1842. The green flashing light that was automated in 1933 may be seen for seventeen miles. The two-story brick lighthouse keeper's house, with its hipped gable roof and pointed gothic porch, was built in 1874. Today, a Coast Guard station and the lighthouse watch over one of the busiest waterways in the world.
