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Gibraltar Point Lighthouse

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted August, 2008

Photo Source - Wikimedia Commons

This set of two 2008 Heritage Toronto plaques were installed at the beginning of the entrance path to this lighthouse on Toronto Island, about 2 km west of the Centre Island ferry dock. Here's what they say:

Coordinates: 43.613258 -79.384786

Though now away from the lake and nestled among the trees, this is the oldest surviving lighthouse on the Great Lakes and the second oldest surviving lighthouse in Canada. It was constructed in 1808-09 when this site was only eight metres from the shifting shoreline of Lake Ontario and exposed to violent lake storms. Guiding sailors into York (now Toronto) harbour, this lighthouse was also used to hoist flags signalling the approach of ships to the town and fort.

At a time when most buildings in York were built with local materials, the lighthouse was constructed of stone from Queenston, near Niagara Falls. Its walls are almost two metres thick at the base, and were raised to their existing height by adding stone from Kingston in 1832. Its wick lamps, which were visible many kilometres out over the lake, were fuelled with hundreds of litres of whale oil per year, then coal oil, until an electric light was installed in 1917. In 1809, the lighthouse was the only major light on York's dark, forested horizon. In 1945, the light was changed from white to green to distinguish it from the bright lights of the modern city.

The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse was once accompanied by the whitewashed clapboard homes of the lighthouse keepers, the first civilian residents on the island. The third and fourth keepers, James Durnan and his son George, maintained the wick lamps and the lighthouse from 1832 to 1905. After 1878 George also rewound - every 48 hours - the new mechanism which revolved the light. Over time, the keepers and their families formed the nucleus of a growing island community.

At the end of the 1957 shipping season, the light of the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse was extinguished for the last time by Dedie Dodds, the last of the keepers. After nearly 150 years of service, the stone lighthouse was replaced by the federal Department of Transport with a fully automated, modern skeletal tower. The ownership of the old lighthouse was transferred to Metropolitan Toronto Parks Department in 1958. The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse has since been restored, the remaining homes of the lighthouse keepers demolished, and the surrounding land integrated into Toronto Island Park.

Another plaque at this location
The Lake Light

Related Toronto plaques
Queen's Wharf Lighthouse
Gibraltar Point
Toronto Island

More plaques found on Toronto Island
Allan A. Lamport Regatta Course
Babe Ruth at Hanlan's Point
English's Boathouse
Gibraltar Point
Island Filtration Plant
Island Water Treatment Plant
The Lake Light
Manitou Road
Milton Acorn and Gwendolyn MacEwen
Ned Hanlan 1855-1908
Queen City Yacht Club
Residents or Parks? Remaking Toronto Island
The Royal Canadian Yacht Club
St. Andrew-by-the-Lake
Toronto Island

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Here are the visitors' comments for this page.

> Posted November 24, 2010
This lighthouse was featured in an episode of the TV series "Creepy Canada". Some of the material presented may be conjectural, but it makes for interesting viewing!

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