Christiana

Year Established:
1835
Existing:
No
Source:
LL-1879
Download:
File Type:
jpg (image/jpeg)
Photo Date:
1897
Photo Credit:
US Lighthouse Establishment
Photo Courtesy of:
US Lighthouse Society
Collection / Donor:

LOCATION

Location:
Delaware River Near Christiana River.
Latitude:
39° 43.18'
Longitude:
75° 31.15'
City / Town:
WILMINGTON
U.S. State:
Delaware
Country:
United States

OWNER & ACCESS

Open to Public:
No
Light List Data:
  1. Christiana
Light list data courtesy Gary Riemenschneider

STRUCTURE

Year Discontinued:
1909
Disposition:
Town Down 1939; Site Now Part of Wilmington Landfill
Year Tower Established:
1835
Tower Construction Material:
WOOD
Height of light above mean high water, in feet:
48 feet above water
Height, in feet, from base of structure to center of lantern:
41 feet
Tower Shape:
OCTOGONAL ON ROOF OF DWELLING
Fog Signal Building?:
No
Keeper's Quarters?:
No
Year Keeper's Quarters:
1835

OPTICS

Active Aid to Navigation?:
No
Original Optic Type:
Reflectors later FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL
Year Original Lens Installed:
1855
Private Aid:
No
USCG Access to Optics:
No

Comments:

Historical Information

  • 1834: Authorized by act of Congress, June 30, 1834, $6,000. 
  • 1838: Christiana light-house light on keeper's dwelling; burns ten lamps with spherical reflectors.
  • 1844: Height of the lantern above the surface of the river, forty-seven feet; diameter of the lantern, six feet; height from the deck, six feet; form, octagon, with fifteen panes of glass on each side. It contains ten gas burners and ten reflectors of fifteen inches in diameter, and ten feet of half-inch iron pipe, for the arms of the burners. Diameter of the gasometer, ten feet; depth of the gasometer, ten feet.
  • 1855: At Christiana, new iron lantern for fourth-order apparatus.
  • 1908: Discontinued light: Christiana light, Delaware, upon the establishment of the Bellevue range lights, Delaware.
  • 1939: Christiana Lighthouse was demolished after having served as a dwelling for keepers of Bellevue Range for several years.

Entered by:
t.wheeler
Entered Date:
Jan 15, 2018