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Structure, Clay Township, since 1859

St. Clair Flats South Channel Range Lights

Still standing, photographed 2022

St. Clair Flats Front and Rear Range Light, 2022 Photo: Notorious4life (Uploads), CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Opened
1859
Style
Conical lighthouse towers
Standing
167 years

St. Clair Flats South Channel Range Lights has stood on 0.6 mi (0.97 km) west of the southern tip of Harsens Island in Clay Township since 1859, 167 years and counting. Who built it, what makes it special and how to see it for yourself.

On the map

More photos of St. Clair Flats South Channel Range Lights

[[:en:St. Clair Flats Front and Rear Range Light]|St. Clair Flats Rear Range Light]], Michigan, circa 1904 Photo: US Coast Guard, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
St. Clair Flats Front Range Light, Michigan, circa 1904 Photo: US Coast Guard, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Image of the Marquette Harbor Light, 2000 Photo: Candace Clifford of the NPS, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

What is there now

Standing

We checked building permits, sales, listings and the city's blight and demolition files on October 25, 2026. Nothing new at this address in the last two years.

The story

By Victoria Jackson, Editor in Chief Updated

In 1859, when Michigan was still a young state of farms, mills and river landings, St. Clair Flats South Channel Range Lights opened in Clay Township.

It was built in the Conical lighthouse towers style, and it still reads that way from the sidewalk.

It joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

Go see it at 0.6 mi (0.97 km) west of the southern tip of Harsens Island. Photos never get the scale right.

St. Clair Flats Front and Rear Range Light are two lighthouse structures situated off the southeastern tip of Harsens Island at Lake St. Clair.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Timeline

  1. 1859 Built Conical lighthouse towers
  2. 1990 Listed on the National Register May 24, 1990
  3. 2026 Today 167 years and still standing

Where it is

0.6 mi (0.97 km) west of the southern tip of Harsens Island, Clay Township

On this map

  1. St. Clair Flats South Channel Range Lights This place
  2. St. Clair Flats Range Front Light 390 ft
  3. St. Clair Flats Rear Range Light 0.3 mi

Street map from OpenStreetMap contributors

More from Clay Township in the 1850s

Around the block

Photo credits

Every photo on this page is used under its license, named here with its author and a link to the original.

  1. St. Clair Flats Front and Rear Range Light, 2022 Photo: Notorious4life (Uploads), CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  2. [[:en:St. Clair Flats Front and Rear Range Light]|St. Clair Flats Rear Range Light]], Michigan, circa 1904 Photo: US Coast Guard, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
  3. St. Clair Flats Front Range Light, Michigan, circa 1904 Photo: US Coast Guard, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
  4. Image of the Marquette Harbor Light, 2000 Photo: Candace Clifford of the NPS, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

Facts only, gathered from these sources. The story above is written by Rebuild Detroit. Every photo names its author and license where it appears.