Belle Isle Station Site

The property (1 1/4 acres) was purchased April 6, 1881 from the City of Detroit for the sum of $1.00. Belle Isle Lighthouse was constructed and a light was first shown on May 15, 1882. The light keeper's dwellings were built the succeeding year along with a surrounding retaining wall and a boathouse. That lighthouse occupied the site continuously until construction of the present facilities; The station was completed in 1942, and at that time the station was the most modern on the Great Lakes; The current facilities of Station Belle Isle, formerly known as St. Clair Lifeboat Station, were designed by the Ninth Coast Guard, Civil Engineering Section, Cleveland, Ohio and built by Faulkner Construction Company (USCG Historian's Website).