Alki Point Lighthouse, Washington
Limited Edition
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History of Alki Point Lighthouse
It seems fitting that early northwestern settlers dubbed this area Point Alki, a Chinook word meaning “by-and-by” or “all in good time.” It may have been overlooked by commerce, but more than 150 years ago, landowners realized the Point was a vital day mark for mariners and a landmark for ships entering Elliott Bay from Puget Sound, bound for Seattle.
In 1887, the US Lighthouse Service established this beacon and it was first lit in 1913. The first light keeper, Hans Martin Hanson, was paid $15 a month for his services. After his death in 1900, the responsibility for the beacon passed to Hanson’s son Edmund.
Although the Lighthouse Board decided to construct a fog signal at the site, several years passed before Hanson’s heirs agreed to sell the parcel. In 1910, the government acquired 1.5 acres for $9,000 and two years later, a small, square stucco building with a brick tower was constructed at the end of Alki Point. The keeper’s cottage was built nearby and the new station began operating in 1913. Inside the 37-foot tower was a Fourth Order Fresnel Lens.
The light was automated in 1984 and a more modern optic was installed in 1998. Because the US Coast Guard continues to operate Alki Point as an important navigational aid, the old building is not regularly open to the public, though there are scheduled tours. The keeper’s quarters are now home to active Coast Guard families.
Alki Point beach is popular for scuba divers, especially because of the deep slopes out in front of the lighthouse. However, currents are swift, which is not surprising, given the convergence of busy Elliott Bay with Puget Sound. The little lighthouse remains an important marker for divers and mariners alike.
ALKI POINT LIGHT
Seattle (1887 and 1913)
Thrusting far out into the blue waters of Puget Sound, wedge-shaped Point Alki makes a notable impression on mariners who must swing their ships wide to avoid it. Perhaps hoping it would develop into a burgeoning commercial center, early settlers called the point “New York,” but it was not destined to become a West Coast Manhattan. Overshadowed by bustling Seattle only a few miles to the northeast, the point languished, almost completely ignored by commercial interests. Disappointed landowners took to calling it Point “Alki,” after a Chinook Indian word meaning “by-and-by” or “all in good time.”
Point Alki was of obvious importance to shipping, however, both as day mark showing the way to Seattle and a threat in fog and at night. Even so, no light was displayed here until the 1880s, when landowner Hans Martin Hanson hung up a small lantern as a humanitarian gesture. In 1887 the U.S. Lighthouse Service improved the light, installing a small lantern and lens. Hanson was paid $15 per month to keep the lamp burning.
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With shipping traffic between Seattle and Tacoma to the south on the increase, the government eventually decided to build a full-fledged lighthouse on Point Alki. Buying land from Manson’s heirs for $10,000, the Lighthouse Service built an octagonal, thirty-seven-foot tall masonry tower, attached fog-signal building, and nearby keeper’s dwelling. Originally, the station employed a fourth-order Fresnel lens, but now a modern optic serves here, flashing white every two seconds.
Travel information: Alki Lighthouse is located just to the south of the public beach at Alki. To reach the beach and lighthouse from Seattle, follow I-5 south then the West Seattle Freeway to the Harbor Avenue exit. Turn right on Harbor Avenue and follow it (Harbor Avenue eventually becomes Beach Drive) along the water to the lighthouse. An active Coast Guard facility, the lighthouse is not regularly open to the public.