EST. 1893 CHICAGO HARBOR LIGHT HOUSE Elongated INDIAN HEAD ONE CENT PENNY COIN

Description

RARE COIN
• CHICAGO HARBOR LIGHT HOUSE EST. 1893
• Elongated 1893 INDIAN HEAD One CENT
• ROLL PRESSED Penny SOUVENIR
• Navy Pier Chicago Lake Michigan.
The Chicago Harbor Lighthouse is an automated active lighthouse, and stands at the south end of the northern breakwater protecting the Chicago Harbor, to the east of Navy Pier and the mouth of the Chicago River.
The light was constructed in 1893 for the World's Columbian Exposition and moved to its present site in 1919.[9] The United States Lighthouse Board prominently displayed "its 'state of the art' wares and engineering achievements." Prominently featured was "the engineering marvel" of Spectacle Reef Light and a 111-foot-tall (34 m) skeletal cast iron lighthouse tower.
Also displayed at the Exposition were a number of Fresnel lenses, including a stunning Third Order Fresnel lens which was awarded first prize at a Paris glass exhibition. The lens featured alternating red and white panels, and had been ordered for installation in the New Point Loma Lighthouse in California.[11] The coincidental conclusion of construction of the new Chicago Harbor light and the close of the Exhibition prompted the Lighthouse Board to keep the lens in Chicago, and thus the lens was installed in the lantern room of the new tower.[10] The original lens has since been removed, and is now on display at Cabrillo National Monument in California.[12]
Surrounded by rip rap, the structure has several levels: a concrete base and two red roofed buildings with a tapered white cylinder between them which is topped by a parapet and the light itself.
In 1917 the breakwater was renovated. At that time, the lighthouse was moved to its present site, and its attached fog signal room and boathouse were built.[9]
The design is "unique . . . similar to that of the offshore sparkplug towers, but this tower is taller."[13] Except for the additions made at the time of the move, it "bears some resemblance" to the Rock of Ages Light near Isle Royale on Lake Superior, which is its contemporary.[14]
The lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 19, 1984, and later was designated a Chicago Landmark on April 9, 2003
ONE CENT NAVY PIER PENNY CHICAGO HARBOR LIGHT HOUSE EST. 1893 ELONGATED PENNY.
Super detail of the harbor and super detail of the obverse and reverse of the original penny.