Volume 4, Issue 11 - November 2026 | |
A Season of Thanks—and Dreams for What Comes Next
Dear Friends,
November always reminds me to pause and give thanks.
As I look back on what we have accomplished together this year, I am especially grateful for the people who make Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse possible: our volunteers, sponsors, donors, partners, and everyone who believes this special place deserves a bright future.
Preserving a lighthouse takes planning, persistence, and plenty of patience.
It also takes dreamers—people willing to look across the water at a weathered landmark and imagine the day its doors open again.
Your encouragement and generosity keep that dream moving forward, and I cannot thank you enough.
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In this month’s newsletter, you’ll find wonderful ways to celebrate our progress and help us prepare for what's next.
We’re excited to introduce our refreshed website, with better organization, easier access to content, and room to grow as we develop Classroom on the Lakefront™. A special thank-you to Annie for bringing her creativity and technical talent to this beautiful new home for our mission, and to everyone who contributed.
With the holiday season beginning, I hope you’ll consider shopping with a little purpose. Our online store offers gifts that celebrate the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse while supporting our work to preserve, restore, and celebrate it.
I’m particularly excited about our 2026 Limited Edition Collectible Ornament, the first in what we hope will become a cherished annual tradition. This gold-finished brass keepsake is a lovely way to bring a little lighthouse magic to your tree—or share it with someone who loves Chicago.
Each ornament includes an individually numbered certificate, and quantities are limited. At $25, it makes a meaningful holiday gift.
Please also save the date for GivingTuesday on December 1st. We have fun, special thank-you gifts planned, including our ornament, Barry Butler’s photography, and beautiful artwork by Marla Shega. You’ll find more details in this issue about how your generosity can help us light the way into 2027.
As we continue working toward ownership and the next chapter of the Lighthouse’s life, there is much to look forward to. But this Thanksgiving, what I appreciate most is the community already surrounding it.
Thank you for believing, for giving, and for dreaming with us. Wishing you and your families a happy Thanksgiving and a joyful start to the holiday season.
With gratitude and big dreams,
Thank you!
Be Safe and Be Well!
Regards,
Kurt Lentsch
Chief Dreamer and President
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Help Us Light the Way into 2027!
Our 2026 Year-End Giving Appeal Begins Today
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One Historic Lighthouse. One Shared Mission. A Brighter Future.
As the year draws to a close, Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse (FOCHL) invites you to help us write the next chapter in the remarkable history of one of Chicago's most treasured landmarks.
For more than a century, the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse has stood at the entrance to our harbor, guiding mariners, welcoming visitors, and symbolizing Chicago's enduring connection to Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes.
But preserving this remarkable piece of our city's history requires more than admiration. It requires action, commitment, and a community willing to make a difference.
That is why we're launching our 2026 Year-End Giving Campaign: Help Us Light the Way into 2027!
Together, We've Come a Long Way
Since our founding in 2022, Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse has grown from an ambitious idea into a community-driven preservation effort with supporters, volunteers, professional partners, and donors who share one important belief: the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse deserves a future as remarkable as its past.
Throughout 2026, we've continued advancing our efforts to secure ownership of the lighthouse, develop restoration plans, establish partnerships, and prepare for the next phase of this historic undertaking.
Our annual Light the Way fundraiser in August generated more than $215,000 in donations and matching support, demonstrating once again the extraordinary generosity of Chicago's maritime and preservation communities.
We're grateful for how far we've come. But our greatest accomplishments still lie ahead.
The Next Big Step: Make Safe Access
As we look toward 2027, our immediate priority is Phase One of our restoration plan, Make Safe Access, an estimated $1.3 million project.
This important work will focus on establishing safe access to the lighthouse, addressing critical life-safety concerns, improving security, and beginning the stabilization necessary to prepare the landmark for its future.
Our long-term vision includes something even more exciting: welcoming the public to experience the lighthouse and expanding educational opportunities through our Classroom on the Lakefront™ initiative.
Imagine future generations of Chicagoans learning about the city's maritime heritage at the very lighthouse that has guarded our harbor for more than a century.
Your year-end gift can help make that vision a reality.
Make Your Generosity Go Even Further
Thanks to an extraordinary commitment from an anonymous Chicago-based private foundation, donations to FOCHL can unlock an additional $1 in matching funds for every $2 contributed.
A $500 donation can generate a total of $750 for our mission. A $1,000 gift can create a $1,500 impact. And a $5,000 contribution can help generate $7,500 toward preserving our historic lighthouse.
There has never been a better reason to support our mission as we prepare for the work ahead.
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GivingTuesday Returns December 1st — With a Special Surprise!
For the fourth consecutive year, FOCHL will participate in GivingTuesday, the global celebration of generosity taking place on Tuesday, December 1, 2026.
And this year, we have something especially exciting to share!
We're delighted to introduce a new and very special artist friend of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, Marla Shega!
Marla's exquisite hand-tinted, signed, and numbered lithograph of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse will join our exclusive GivingTuesday holiday thank-you gift collection for the first time.
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Her artwork will be featured alongside our NEW LIMITED EDITION holiday ornament and beautiful Chicago photography by our longtime friend Barry Butler.
We're also introducing a new $1,000 giving level that includes all three holiday gifts!
Watch for our special GivingTuesday announcement later this month, when we'll share more about these exclusive opportunities to support the lighthouse.
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Don't Need a Gift? Give From the Heart.
We know that many of our supporters simply want to help.
If holiday merchandise isn't for you, we invite you to make a direct charitable contribution at any amount meaningful to you. By declining thank-you gifts, you can maximize the portion of your contribution eligible for a charitable tax deduction while allowing FOCHL to direct more resources toward our mission.
Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse is a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and eligible donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Whether you contribute $25, $100, $500, $1,000, or make a major year-end gift, you become part of the community helping preserve this remarkable piece of Chicago history.
Help Us Light the Way into 2027!
As we enter the final two months of 2026, we're asking you to consider including Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse in your year-end charitable giving.
You don't have to wait until GivingTuesday. Your contribution today can help move our mission forward.
Make your 2026 year-end donation and help us take the next step toward restoring the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse.
Support Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse
Thank you for believing in our mission and helping ensure that the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse will continue to inspire future generations.
Together, we're not just restoring a lighthouse. We're preserving a piece of Chicago history and lighting the way for generations to come.
| | A Fresh Look for SaveTheLighthouse.org | | |
Our refreshed website is live!
Visit SaveTheLighthouse.org to explore a new look, better organization, and easier access to the stories and work behind Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse.
Our original website launched in 2022, helping introduce FOCHL and our mission to the community. This first major refresh gives us a more flexible platform to share our progress, connect with supporters, and grow alongside the restoration effort.
The updated site also lays the groundwork for Classroom on the Lakefront™, with future access to expanded lighthouse history, educational materials, and resources that connect learners with Chicago’s maritime heritage.
Thank you to everyone who contributed ideas, content, photographs, and time to this effort. A special thank-you goes to Annie, whose creativity, design skills, and technical know-how brought it all together into a beautiful representation of our mission and the work we do.
Please take a few minutes to explore the site, browse our online shop, and share it with a friend. If you spot an issue or have a suggested edit, please let us know—your feedback will help us continue improving.
Explore the refreshed SaveTheLighthouse.org and help us preserve, restore, and celebrate this Chicago treasure.
| | FOCHL Gets Merchandise Boost with Retail Expert Jan Marie Ferris | | |
As a native of the Land of Lakes, Minnesotan Jan Marie Ferris has never really lived far from the waterfront. It's no surprise then that her Streeterville condo overlooks Lake Michigan.
"I love my view from both my place and from daily lakefront walks," says Jan Marie. "I've often wondered about the neglected lighthouse out there, and if it would ever be restored to its original beauty."
Her question was answered in the form of an invitation to Light the Way, Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouses annual fundraiser cruise.
"In 2025, I heard about the Light the Way event and immediately wanted to attend to learn more about the organization and enjoy an evening on the water," says Jan Marie.
"I was impressed with the passion exhibited by Kurt and Steve during their presentations. I knew I had to be part of this grassroots organization doing such important preservation work right in my neighborhood. I introduced myself to Kurt, shared my retail and operations skill-set and my desire to be part of the team. The rest is history."
With more than a 30-year career in managing specialty retail and cosmetics with Marshall Fields, Bloomingdale's, and L'Oréal, Jan Marie figured her experience could benefit Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse. And she was right.
Under Jan Marie's leadership, the FOCHL online store is up and running with fresh new products and brisk sales.
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"Jan Marie has the vision and expertise that has brought our merchandise to a whole new level," says Kurt Lentsch, Chief Dreamer and President of Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse.
"She knows that branding is key to product development, and each item sold is not just a donation, but also a key marketing tool that helps spread the organization's mission. Not only has she boosted the store's online presence, but our product line is also now sold in the Chicago Architectural Center's downtown store and soon in other local gift shops. We are lucky to have her energy, experience, and connections in the specialty retail world."
In addition to retail management, Jan Marie also manages bookings for Chicago Harbor Lighthouse: Past, Present and Future, FOCHL's mission presentation to community groups, schools and conferences.
"I'm so happy that I joined this group," says Jan Marie. "I'm not a boater, so at first I wasn't sure if I would fit in. But I've learned that FOCHL volunteers come from all walks of life and that it's the mission of restoring and celebrating our lighthouse that unites us."
Support our mission to Preserve, Restore, and Celebrate the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse by visiting our online store at: savethelighthouse.org/store.
Jan Marie’s story reminds us that you don’t have to be a boater to help save one of Chicago’s most iconic landmarks.
Whether you have professional skills to share, a passion for Chicago history, or simply want to make a difference, there’s a place for you at Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse!
| | A New Holiday Tradition: Our First Annual Collectible Ornament | | |
Bring the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse home for the holidays!
We’re delighted to introduce our 2026 Limited Edition Collectible Ornament, the first in a new annual tradition celebrating this beloved lakefront landmark.
Die-stamped, this gold-finished brass ornament stands 2.5 inches tall, with intricate cutouts that let your tree lights shine through. Each ornament hangs from a festive red ribbon and comes in a red presentation box with an individually numbered certificate.
At $25, it’s a meaningful gift for lighthouse lovers, Chicago enthusiasts, and anyone who treasures our waterfront. Every purchase supports our mission to preserve, restore, and celebrate the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse.
Quantities are limited—begin your collection with our inaugural edition!
Order your 2026 FOCHL Holiday Ornament HERE!
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When the Fair Ended, the Work Began
By Steve Clements
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Standard Oil’s exhibit at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, with the lighthouse lens visible along the left wall. AI-enhanced from a Chicago Public Library reference image; some fine details have been reconstructed.
Source: C.D. Arnold Photographic Collection, Volume VI, Plate 95, Special Collections, Chicago Public Library.
We’ve ordered a high-resolution reproduction of this remarkable photograph. Look for a closer view of the lens alongside a new lighthouse story in our December issue.
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As we turn the calendar from October to November, we’re looking back to that same transition in 1893. Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition closed on October 30th.
By November 9th, a lens displayed at the fair was guiding vessels into Chicago Harbor, six days before the new lighthouse station had been scheduled to begin operating.
We’ve shared information about the connection between the lighthouse’s lens and Standard Oil’s exhibit at the fair before. A closer look at photographs, government correspondence indexes, and contemporary newspaper accounts now allows us to document that connection more fully and better understand the lens’s transition from exhibition to service. Along the way, new discoveries have raised brought fresh questions.
A recently discovered photograph preserved by Chicago Public Library provides a much clearer view of Standard Oil’s exhibit in the Mines and Mining Building. Visitors stand among display cases and models beneath an elaborate architectural framework. Along the left wall, the Fresnel lens we know as HL-330 rises, its glasswork elevated above the people gathered nearby.
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Manufactured by Henry-Lepaute in France, the third-order Fresnel lens concentrated the light of a lamp into beams visible at a distance. At the fair, it belonged to a larger story about petroleum and its uses. Standard Oil displayed illuminating oils alongside other products and examples of the equipment that used them.
A contemporary technical account by Dr. Otto Mühlhäuser specifically lists a lighthouse lamp operating within Standard Oil’s exhibit. For a company selling illuminating oils, such a display offered a striking demonstration of petroleum’s practical value. The lamp supplied the flame; the surrounding Fresnel lens directed its light around the exhibit.
Even before the fair opened, the apparatus was destined for had a destination waiting on Chicago’s waterfront. The Lighthouse Board correspondence index dated March 22, 1893, reproduced here, describes illuminating apparatus destined for Chicago Breakwater and loaned to Dr. David T. Day for the U.S. Geological Survey’s exhibit. Displayed within Standard Oil’s installation, the loaned equipment would demonstrate petroleum lighting to fairgoers before entering lighthouse service. This brief handwritten record connects its exhibition role with its intended work at Chicago’s new harbor light.
| Lighthouse Board correspondence index, March 22, 1893. Letter Book 960, page 208. National Archives, RG 26, Entry 38; reproduced in the U.S. Lighthouse Society Digital Archive. | By late autumn, the fair was preparing to close, and the transition of the HL-330 lens had become a matter of skilled labor and careful packing. Correspondence indexes dated October 28 and November 1 record Day’s requests for a lampist to help pack the loaned lens. These brief handwritten summaries offer a glimpse of the preparations required to move delicate optical equipment into service. The full letters may eventually reveal more about the arrangements. | October 28, 1893: Dr. David T. Day thanks the Lighthouse Board for the lens loan and requests a lampist to pack it. Letter Book 1027, page 386. National Archives, RG 26, Entry 38; reproduced in the U.S. Lighthouse Society Digital Archive. | |
We have not yet traced the lens’s complete journey from the fair to the lantern room, including the specific details of dismantling, transport, and installation.
Then Chicago’s fall weather brought the new station’s timetable forward.
According to the Chicago Tribune’s November 11, 1893, account, contractors handed over the station to the US Lighthouse Service on Thursday afternoon, November 9. Operations were scheduled to begin November 15, but fog made the signals urgently needed that evening. The newspaper reported that steam was turned on at seven o’clock to operate the fog signals, and that the lights and sounds continued through the night, guiding vessels into port.
The Lighthouse Board’s official record confirms the beginning: its 1894 annual report states that the light was first exhibited on the night of November 9, 1893, and that the fog signal was put into operation. Ten days after the fair closed and six days ahead of schedule, the lens had begun its working life on the harbor.
| The U.S. Lighthouse Board’s 1894 annual report records the first lighting on November 9, 1893, and the start of fog-signal operation. Entry 1348; reproduced in the U.S. Lighthouse Society Digital Archive. | |
The new station quickly made its presence known ashore. The Tribune carried the headline “Fog Horn at Night,” followed by a subhead about its blasts keeping North Side people awake. Residents complained about lost sleep and the intrusion of the signal into their homes.
Franklin MacVeagh offered another perspective. According to the newspaper, he found reassurance in hearing the horn during the fog, knowing that someone was looking out for sailors’ safety. His response captured the purpose behind the disturbance: the signal had to reach people navigating the harbor.
One detail from earlier accounts of this story still awaits confirmation in the original record: the words attributed to principal keeper Thomas J. Bailey on the night the light first shone. We have previously shared this quotation: “Light first exhibited this evening. Lamp burning bright. Weather fair. Wind light from southwest.”
Although the quotation has appeared in published accounts, we are still tracing its original source and have not yet verified the wording against the keeper’s handwritten log. The November 9 first-lighting date is documented; Bailey’s precise account remains a piece of the story we still hope to confirm. The National Archives lists a Chicago Harbor logbook beginning in November 1893. Its opening pages may bring us closer to the keeper’s experience of that night.
For Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, following those questions is part of preserving the lighthouse’s history. A photograph can lead us to correspondence; a newspaper account can send us back to a keeper’s log. Each adds something to our understanding of the people and work behind the building.
This November, we can mark a documented beginning: a lens that had drawn visitors’ attention at the fair was put to work on a foggy lakefront, helping vessels find their way into Chicago Harbor. More than 130 years later, we’re still bringing its story into focus.
Learn more
How a Fresnel lens works. Explore the glasswork, revolving mechanisms, and distinctive flashes in this introduction from the National Park Service.
Explore the 1893 World’s Fair. WTTW’s Chicago Stories brings together a documentary, historical images, and articles exploring the fair’s architecture, innovations, and lasting influence on Chicago.
| Jeannette Greene, former commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw, stands on a pile of trees on the ship's deck, docked at Navy Pier. Photo: Pat Nabong/Sun-Times | Chicago’s Christmas Ship: A Tradition of Giving on the Lakefront | |
Each holiday season, Chicago’s waterfront welcomes a special arrival: a Coast Guard cutter carrying Christmas trees and a tradition that connects our city’s maritime past with the spirit of giving.
The story reaches back to Captain Herman Schuenemann and the schooner Rouse Simmons. Chicago families purchased Christmas trees directly from his vessel near the Clark Street Bridge, making the waterfront part of their holiday celebrations. In November 1912, the Rouse Simmons was lost on Lake Michigan while bringing another cargo of trees to Chicago. The captain and those aboard never returned, but their story remains an enduring part of our maritime heritage.
Today, that tradition lives on through Chicago’s Christmas Ship. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw brings trees to Navy Pier, where youth volunteers help unload them for distribution to Chicago families through Ada S. McKinley Community Services. It is a wonderful example of our boating community, the Coast Guard, and volunteers coming together to spread holiday joy.
For those of us working to preserve the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, this tradition offers a meaningful connection to the harbor’s living history. Our lighthouse reminds us of the mariners who depended on safe passage across Lake Michigan; the Christmas Ship reminds us of the people and communities those voyages served.
This program is close to my heart. I encourage our Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse community to follow along, learn its history, and consider supporting the work that keeps this tradition alive.
Mark your calendar: The Mackinaw is scheduled to arrive Friday, December 4, 2026. Tree unloading begins Saturday, December 5, at 8:30 a.m., with the ceremony at 10 a.m.
Follow the voyage, explore the history, or help bring a tree to a Chicago family at ChristmasShip.org.
| The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw or the “Christmas Ship,” is docked at Navy Pier. The ship, which travels to Chicago annually to deliver trees. Photo: Pat Nabong/Sun-Times | | If you are part of an organization that has an interest in financially supporting our efforts to Preserve, Restore, and Celebrate the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, please reach out to Nick Naber (nicknaber@savethelighthouse.org), our treasurer and a member of our fundraising working group. | | Copyright © 2026 Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse - All Rights Reserved. | | | | |
