Lighthouse History

Built: Established in 1838.  Rebuilt in 1856. Rebuilt again in 1890.

Type: Octagonal Wooden

Status: Non Active - See Below

Location: Lake Pontchartrain

Deactivated:  2005  Hurricane Katrina destroys lighthouse.

Lens:

Keepers:

Notes:
 

2006  LPBF signs lease with U. S. Coast Guard to restore lighthouse.

2007  LPBF dismantles damaged structure and stores historic materials.

2008  Restoration phases begin.

Hurricane Katrina was not the only hurricane to severely damage the lighthouse. In September of 1915 a hurricane with winds up to 130 miles per hour heavily damaged the station. Hurricane damage in 1926 resulted in the light being raised onto concrete piers.

The lighthouse at the head of the New Basin Canal was the location of the Coast Guard station that monitors boating activity in Lake Pontchartrain. The New Basin Canal was built by Irish and German immigrants to the city back in the 1830s as a link between the city and the lake. The canal's path followed what are now the Pontchatrain Expressway and West End Blvd. That massive neutral ground that separates West End Blvd. from Pontchartrain Blvd. is the filled-in New Basin Canal.

Built in the 1890s, the lighthouse has been a lakefront landmark for years, guiding boats in and out of the Orleans Marina and the Municipal Yacht Harbor. The Coast Guard moved their lakefront station here from over by Spanish Fort in the 60s. The wooden building at Spanish Fort was falling apart, and had sustained a good bit of damage from hurricanes, so it was time to move down Lakeshore drive a bit.

The New Canal Lighthouse was placed on the National register of Historic Places on December 30, 1985, by the National Park Service. This is the last light in use that has the light tower on the top of the keeper's dwelling. The "New Canal," a 7 mile long canal to connect the Mississippi with Lake Pontchartrain, was begun in the early 1830s. It was never completed; however, the end at the lake became a small harbor. In 1834, $25,000 was raised to build a lighthouse to mark the entrance to the harbor. It began operating in 1838.

The light was listed as unrepairable in 1854. It was rebuilt as a fifth order light on the keeper's dwelling in 1855 at a cost of $6,000. The lantern showed a fixed white light with 9 lamps 33 feet above sea level. On February 25, 1890, it was discontinued. The next day it was sold at auction and torn down. A lantern hung from a pole in its place.

In 1901, the present structure was erected on iron pilings with a fifth order lens. The structure is 32 feet square in shape with the lens focal plane at 52 feet above sea level. This building may have been moved to its present location in about 1910. The exterior was restored in 1976.

On October 1, 1987, the Patrol Boats Division of Group New Orleans at the Base on the Industrial Canal and Station New Canal were combined and established as US Coast Guard Station New Orleans at the New Canal site. A 44 person crew responds to search and rescue calls and in underway hours is the busiest Coast Guard Station in the world.

Other missions of the Station are: law enforcement, boating safety, marine environmental protection, port safety and security, and support of other agencies. The area of responsibility includes Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne, Lake Maurepas, the Pearl River, the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet to dayboard 46, the Mississippi River from mile 46 to mile 232, the Intercoastal Waterway from Pearl River to Bayou Lafourche, plus all the tributaries and surrounding bayous.