Sanibel Island Light

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Sanibel Island Light
The Sanibel Island Light Station in 1933.
Location:	East end of Sanibel Island
Coordinates WGS-84 (GPS)	26°27′″N, 82°01′″W
Year first lit:	1885
Automated:	1949
Foundation:	iron pile
Construction:	iron
Tower shape:	Square, pyramidal, skeleton, iron framework, inclosing stair-cylinder and surmounted by lantern
Height:	98 feet (102 feet above sea level)
Original lens:	third order Fresnel lens
Characteristic:	1901: fixed white varied by a white flash every 2 minutes; 1933: two grouped white flashes every 10 seconds

Sanibel Island Light January 26, 2006

The Sanibel Island Light is the first lighthouse on Florida's Gulf coast north of Key West and the Dry Tortugas. It is located on the eastern tip of Sanibel Island, and was built to mark the entrance to San Carlos Bay for ships calling at the port of Punta Rassa, across San Carlos Bay from Sanibel Island.

Residents of Sanibel Island first petitioned for a lighthouse in 1833, but no action was taken. In 1856 the Lighthouse Board recommended a lighthouse on Sanibel Island, but Congress took no action. In 1877 government workers surveyed the eastern end of the island and reserved it for a lighthouse. Congress finally appropriated funds for a lighthouse in 1883. The foundation for the new lighthouse was completed in early 1884, but the ship bringing ironwork for the tower sank two miles from Sanibel Island. A crew of hard-hat divers from Key West recovered all but two of the pieces for the tower.

Punta Rassa became an important port in the 1830s and remained so up to the Spanish-American War. It was primarily used to ship cattle from Florida to Cuba. Until the railroads reached the area in the 1880s, ranchers drove their cattle from open ranges in central Florida to Punta Rassa for shipment to Cuba.

The lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The Coast Guard leases the light station site to the city of Sanibel, Florida.