{"nrhp_refnum":"77001423","name":"Aransas Pass Light Station","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"N of Port Aransas on Harbor Island","address_restricted":false,"city":"Port Aransas","county":"Aransas County","state":"TX","lat":27.86363884800005,"lon":-97.05644840896075,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-08-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Engineering","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A lighthouse station of about 24 acres on Harbor Island near Port Aransas, Aransas County, Texas, begun in 1853 and completed in 1857 by the U.S. Lighthouse Board. It includes a brick light tower, keepers' dwellings, a radio room, walks and a wharf.","why_significant":"The station is the second oldest surviving lighthouse on the Texas coast and served until 1952, much longer than Point Isabel. It survives almost as it was in its active years, with only the oil house and radio beacon tower gone. Its tower also figured in Civil War events, when Confederate soldiers blew off its top in 1862.","narrative":"Aransas Pass Light Station occupies roughly 24 acres of low marsh on Harbor Island, beside the Lydia Ann Channel near Port Aransas, Texas. Completed in 1857 by the U.S. Lighthouse Board, it centers on an octagonal brick tower with a fourth-order Fresnel lens, and it grew to include tile-and-stucco and wood-frame keepers' dwellings, a radio room, raised plank walks, a T-head wharf and cypress cisterns. Hurricanes in 1916, 1919 and 1970 destroyed or damaged several structures, and Confederate soldiers blew the top off the tower in 1862; it was repaired and relit in 1867. The light guided shipping until 1952. The station is listed as the second oldest surviving lighthouse on the Texas coast, and it remains largely intact. Only the oil house and the radio beacon tower are gone. The tower and stairway were restored in 1972, and the buildings are in residential use today.","period_of_significance":"1857 - 1952","architect_builder":"U.S. Lighthouse Board","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Light went out of service in 1952. The station is now used as a private residence, with the tower restored in 1972; the oil house was destroyed by Hurricane Celia in 1970.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.618682-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/3/9710/40971003/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/77001423.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77001423/710c42e0b0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77001423/710c42e0b0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Jon Lebkowsky","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lydia_Ann_Lighthouse_near_Port_Aransas.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jon Lebkowsky</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lydia_Ann_Lighthouse_near_Port_Aransas.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971003","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aransas_Pass_Light_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18619035"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/aransas-county/aransas-pass-light-station-77001423/"}