Bolivar Point Lighthouse

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The original iron lighthouse was completely dismantled during the Civil war. Given the dramatic cost increase for iron during the war and the fact that no section of the original tower has ever been discovered, it is assumed that the iron sections were used as armor plating for ships or were melted down to produce military armaments.

After the war a temporary wooden lighthouse was built in its place, and later Congress appropriated $40,000 for the construction of a second iron tower on the point.

During the height of the great hurricane of 1900 which destroyed much of Galveston Island, and killed nearly 6,000 people, over 120 people sought protection in the iron lighthouse. Seated by twos on the tower’s spiral staircase, the refugees huddled together as 120-mile-per-hour winds rocked the tower. After the floodwater receded from the base of the tower, the occupants exited the lighthouse to discover the bodies of a dozen people, who were unable to reach the safety of the tower.

Again, in August 1915, 60 people got protection from a hurricane by staying inside the lighthouse.

In 1947, the lighthouse was sold into private hands for $5,500, however, the tower’s third-order Fresnel lens can be seen at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington D.C.