{"nrhp_refnum":"77001445","name":"Point Bolivar Lighthouse","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"TX 87","address_restricted":false,"city":"Port Bolivar","county":"Galveston County","state":"TX","lat":29.366815658000064,"lon":-94.76686037299999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-08-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Art","Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 117-foot brick-lined, iron-plated lighthouse tower at Port Bolivar, Galveston County, Texas, built in 1872-73 by the Bureau of Lighthouses.","why_significant":"It is one of the few nineteenth-century lighthouses remaining on the Texas Gulf Coast and an unusual example of brick-and-iron construction. It operated from 1873 to 1933 and sheltered refugees during the 1900 and 1915 hurricanes.","narrative":"Rising 117 feet at Port Bolivar on the Texas coast, this lighthouse was built in 1872-73 by the Bureau of Lighthouses, replacing an 1852 iron tower dismantled during the Civil War. Its construction is unusual: a brick tower, 18 inches thick at the base and tapering to 12 inches at the top, is sheathed in one-inch malleable-iron plates. An iron spiral stairway leads to the lantern and balcony, and the cupola roof and railing are brass. It was first lit on November 19, 1873, and remained in service until May 29, 1933. The tower withstood the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, sheltering about 125 refugees, and in 1915 about fifty people took refuge inside while the keeper turned the lens by hand. It is one of only two remaining iron lighthouses on the Gulf Coast. After it was discontinued, the federal government sold it to a private individual, and it remains privately owned and in need of maintenance.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Bureau of Lighthouses","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Privately owned and maintained; needs rust prevention and replacement of broken and missing parts; dome glass broken out. Houses on each side are used as vacation cottages. Light discontinued in 1933.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.20862-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/9720/40972054/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/77001445.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77001445/554bd828dd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77001445/554bd828dd-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Jim Evans","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bolivar_Lighthouse_--_Point_Bolivar,_Galveston,_Texas.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jim Evans</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bolivar_Lighthouse_--_Point_Bolivar,_Galveston,_Texas.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972054","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Bolivar_Light","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7207966"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/galveston-county/point-bolivar-lighthouse-77001445/"}