Type:
Year Established:
1896
Existing:
No
Source:
LL-1908
Download:
Brazos River TX NA 26-LG-34-73a.jpg (6.1 MB)
File Type:
jpg (image/jpeg)
Photo Credit:
USLHB
Photo Courtesy of:
NA RG 26 LG 34-73a
Collection / Donor:
LOCATION
Location:
Mouth Of Brazos River
Latitude:
28° 56.44'
Longitude:
95° 18.31'
City / Town:
Freeport
U.S. State:
Texas
Country:
United States
OWNER & ACCESS
Open to Public:
No
STRUCTURE
Year Discontinued:
1967
Disposition:
Dismantled and Replaced by Skeletal Buoy
Year Tower Established:
1896
Tower Construction Material:
Iron
Height of light above mean high water, in feet:
98
Height, in feet, from base of structure to center of lantern:
96.5 feet
Tower Shape:
Skeletal, with Cylinder
Tower Daymark:
Brown
Fog Signal Building?:
No
Keeper's Quarters?:
No
Year Keeper's Quarters:
1896
OPTICS
Original Optic Type:
Third and a Half Order, Revolving
Private Aid:
No
USCG Access to Optics:
No
Entered by:
Entered Date:
Jan 15, 2018
Not long after Texas was granted statehood (1845), ever-increasing traffic on the Brazos River led the Light-House Board to recommend that a light be raised at its mouth. However, it was not until 1896 that an iron skeleton tower was erected, about 50 miles down the coast from Galveston Bay. The light station survived many natural disasters, including the hurricane of 1915, which shook the tower so hard that the revolving mechanism was put out of order, requiring the keepers to turn the light by hand for two nights.