{"nrhp_refnum":"84001624","name":"Matagorda Island Lighthouse","other_names":["Matagorda Lighthouse"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Matagorda Island","address_restricted":false,"city":"Port O'Connor","county":"Calhoun County","state":"TX","lat":28.337935421000054,"lon":-96.42401746699994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-09-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Engineering","Maritime History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A cast-iron lighthouse tower, 92 feet tall, on the northern end of Matagorda Island near Port O'Connor, Calhoun County, Texas, marking the entrance to Matagorda Bay via Pass Cavallo. The 1984 form dates it to 1872, with the light first lit September 1, 1873.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the sole surviving lighthouse on the Texas coast erected entirely in cast iron. It rebuilt the original 1852 lighthouse, which Confederate troops damaged in the Civil War. Its self-supporting iron structure was more advanced than the second Bolivar Point lighthouse, and it served the ports of Port Lavaca and Indianola.","narrative":"Rising 92 feet above the northern tip of Matagorda Island, this black cast-iron lighthouse marks the entrance to Matagorda Bay through Pass Cavallo. Its iron plates, about a quarter to half an inch thick, are bolted together at flanged edges and braced to a central iron column that carries a spiral stair to the lantern. It rests on a circular brick foundation. The tower replaced an 1852 lighthouse that Confederate troops tried to blow up during the Civil War and that the Gulf later threatened to wash away. After the original was dismantled and a new site bought, construction began in July 1873, and the light was first lit on September 1, 1873. The nomination identifies it as the only Texas lighthouse built entirely of cast iron, and its design needed no interior brick wall for support. It originally guided ships to Port Lavaca and Indianola and remains an automated Coast Guard beacon.","period_of_significance":"1900 (period box on the form); specific date 1872","architect_builder":"Lighthouse Service, U.S. Coast Guard","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still operated by the U.S. Coast Guard as an automated battery-powered beacon, with no permanent keeper quarters nearby; in good condition with peeling black paint and some broken lantern glass. Form lists present use as vacant.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:20.924523-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/35/9714/40971435/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/84001624.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84001624/b9aac13e22-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84001624/b9aac13e22-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Unknown authorUnknown author","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Matagorda_Island_Light_(Calhoun_County,_Texas).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown authorUnknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Matagorda_Island_Light_(Calhoun_County,_Texas).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971435","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matagorda_Island_Light","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6785980"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/calhoun-county/matagorda-island-lighthouse-84001624/"}