Racine Lighthouse and Maritime Preservation Society

09/13/2023

RLAMPS will be holding our next Education Night on October 3rd at 6:30. Our Speaker will be Brendon Baillod and his topic will be the history of Racine's Harbor. We are very excited to have Brendon back speaking to us. Brendon is a well respected local historian, and wreck hunter. Brendon along with Bob Jaeck found the wreck of the long lost Trinidad. See the NPR story: https://www.npr.org/2023/09/04/1197480909/shipwreck-trinidad-found-lake-michigan-wisconsin

03/16/2022

We are excited to be having the first Education Night of 2022. Our Speaker will be Caitlin Zant from the State Historical Society. To gregister for the live stream send an email to: [email protected]. For in person registration you can send an email or call 262-639-8135 (leave a message with your name phone number and number attending.

Maritime archaeologist Caitlin Zant will highlight three of the State Historic Preservation Office's recent shipwreck survey projects on March 22 at 6:30 p.m. at Dewey's Restaurant & Sports Bar.

Presented by the Racine Lighthouse and Maritime Preservation Society (RLAMPS), this program will focus on the schooner Abiah, which sank in 1854 off the shore of Sheboygan, the schooner Advance, which sank in 1885 in 85 feet of water near Sheboygan, and the steamer Sidney O. Neff, which sank in 1939 in shallow water near Marinette.

Admission is free for RLAMPS members; $5 donation is suggested for non-members. Walk-ins are allowed, but RSVP is encouraged. To RSVP or watch live stream, email [email protected] or call (262) 639-8135.

10/11/2020

I just previewed Cal's slides to make sure they play properly. Even without Cal's narration, I an 100% sure the program on the 20th will be amazing.

10/11/2020

At our upcoming Education Night, we will be social distancing and wearing masks. Here is a picture from our September 8th Education Night showing the chairs spaced 6 feet apart (pairs of chairs are for people who are in the same house).

07/26/2020

This video shows the sad state of the Racine Reef Light Crib. This video was posted on rlamps.org a short while ago.

A look at the status and deterioration of the Racine Reef Light Crib

03/22/2020

Because of the COVID-19 guidelines, we have cancelled both our April 6th and May 14th Education Nights. We hope to be back in the Fall on September 8th. We will have a presentation on the Lady Elgin disaster on the anniversary of that tragic event.

Stay safe and see you in the fall.

02/06/2020

09/13/2019

Another outstanding crowd for our Education Night Program last night at Dewey’s.
Steve Radovan’s Program on Lake Michigan’s oldest discover wreck was fantastic! Here are a few Picts.

Our next program is Nov 7th on the history of model ship building. Watch for more details.

04/15/2019

A couple of images taken last Thursday during the gale. Taken from about 2.5 miles away at the end of 16th street. Sony a7ll with Sony 70-300 G lens.

02/11/2019

Last Thursday’s Education Night on the Sunken Treasure of Poverty Island was a huge success. Between 70-80 people attended this interesting program put on by Richard Bennett. Thank you to all who attended. We’ll post some pictures soon.

Our next program isn’t until May, and will be on Shipwrecks on markers on the perilous Racine Reef. RLAMPS historian Bob Jaeck will be the key speaker with Jim Charnon assisting. Watch for more information in the upcoming weeks.

www.rlamps.org

Here are some pictures of the event.

02/01/2019

Remember to make your reservations for this upcoming Thursday night’s program: The Sunken Treasure of Poverty Island.

01/02/2019

For anyone looking for discounted Wind Point Lighthouse logoed items , we still have a selection of items available from our web site www.rlamps.org. Just click on the SHOP button on the main menu bar to see what’s available.

Lighthouse and Maritime History of Racine, WI.

12/26/2018

As we come to the close of 2018, we would like to say “thank you” to all of our members for their continued support of our mission with a special thank you to those business that have made donations our provided grant money to our organization, with a very special thank you to TCF Bank for their very generous grant. Our supporters are:

TCF Bank
Johnson Bank
Dewey’s
Educators Credit Union
Mocha Lisa Coffeehouse
Jim Charnon Photography

If you would like to make a donation to RLAMPS (Racine Lighthouse and Maritime Preservation Society), you can do so by going to our web page www.rlamps.org , or from our page.

We look forward to a great 2019, and have some great Education Nights planned and in the works.

Happy New Year.

Lighthouse and Maritime History of Racine, WI.

12/12/2018

All of us from the RLAMPS board would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

11/09/2018

Great turnout last night for our program on the Eastland Disaster. Todd Gordon did a great job of taking us through the entire life story of the Eastland before and after the tragedy in the Chicago River, when 800 people lost their lives. We’ll post a few pictures soon.

Our next program isn’t until Feb 7th next year, but it’ll be a good one: The Lost Treasure of Poverty Island. Check out our web site for more info, and we’ll be loading a poster up soon.

10/31/2018

Our new video of some historic images of life on and in the Racine Reef Lighthouse from 1940 is now available on our web site www.rlamps.org under the video-home menu.
Enjoy.

Lighthouse and Maritime History of Racine, WI.

10/26/2018

Coming soon! We’ll soon be putting up a new slideshow of the historic pictures we licensed of life on and the inside of the Racine Reef Lighthouse. There aren’t many but are the only ones known to exist. The show will also be added to our web site www.rlamps.org

Lighthouse and Maritime History of Racine, WI.

10/14/2018

As September 4, 2018 passed by we remember The Racine Reef Lighthouse Keeper William Penn Larson who lost his life 100 years before, on September 4, 1918.

In the afternoon of September 4, 1918 around 3:30pm Lighthouse Keeper Larson was intent on returning to Racine Harbor from his Lighthouse Station on the Racine Reef about 2 miles off shore East of Racine, in a small row boat. With a strong North East gale blowing at the time, another Lighthouse assistance tried to convince Keeper Larson to not proceed with his journey to shore. With the dangerous Racine Reef between Keeper Larson's station, and the safety of the harbor, they could see the large roaring waves that were lifting and curling over looking like a boiling mass of water. Keeper Larson laughed it off, and shoved away from the Racine Reef Lighthouse, he rowed for just a few minutes before his small vessel capsized spilling him out then righting itself, Keeper Larson was seen struggling for a few moments then quickly sank from sight and was he gone, it was terrible sight to witness.

Early October of 1918 the body of William Larson with only his shoes on washed ashore at New Buffalo, Michigan. He leaves behind a widow, 14 year old son, his brother, and other relatives living in the area.

09/25/2018

Last Thursday’s program on the Fish tug Palmer was a huge success. Approximately 90 people attended including some of the family members of one time owners of the tug. Our Ron Luttrell’s extensive research really paid off in terms of details and facts that were little know, if at all, to many attending. Many historic pictures of the early Palmer and it’s sister tug were included in the presentation along with almost a step by step series of photos covering its raising from the bottom of the river. Ron also brought along a few artifacts from the Palmer. All in all, a great evening. Here are some pictures from the event.

09/21/2018

Great turnout last night for our program on the Fish tug Palmer. Ron Luttrell did an excellent job.

Our next program, Nov 8th is on the Eastland Disaster. Watch for more info on our web site and here in the next few days.

09/02/2018

Here’s a link to the Journal’s article on our upcoming presentation on the Fish tug Palmer.

https://journaltimes.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/racine-s-sunken-palmer-is-topic-of-maritime-program/article_7ee7bebc-4777-5fb9-8862-7f549ba7e37b.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share

Racine has always been a hub of maritime activity. Various vessels have come and gone. The earliest were Native American canoes, later European settlers arrived with sailboats then steamships. Today

08/19/2018

Our group recently received a license to a number of historic images related to the Racine Reef Lighthouse. We are in the process of digitally reproducing them for use on our web site and periodically here on our Facebook book page. We were very lucky to have licensed these images and are anxious to share them in the upcoming weeks/months.

08/14/2018

Our first program for 2019 has been confirmed. Dr. Richard Bennett will be discussing the treasure of Poverty Island. Program date is Feb 7, 2019

Watch for further details.

08/01/2018

The Racine Reef Light in 2016 - First image.
The Racine Reef Light today - 2nd, 3rd, and 4th image.
The power of the Lake.

08/01/2018

Unfortunately the Preservation Racine Tour has been cancelled this year. The first time in the groups history. Lack of participation and volunteers were mentioned as contributing to the decision.

06/17/2018

We are very pleased and fortunate to be adding two new members to our Board of Directors; Bill and Linda Frank. Both come with background and experience that will help our organization positively move forward in a number of areas.
Welcome, Bill and Linda!
Great to have you on the Board!

05/19/2018

Our exhibit at Real Racine is really coming along. In the past two weeks we have added a digital frame which has a number of programs for viewing and this week we moved our diorama of Racine’s very first Lighthouse, the Root River Lighthouse to Real Racine. Here’s at short video tour.

05/17/2018

Update: our diorama of Racine’s very first Lighthouse, the Root River Lighthouse has been moved to Real Racine to complement other information posted there about it and to further enhance the exhibit we have developed there. Stop out and take a look. Both of our dioramas, Wind Point Lighthouse (1900), and now the Root River Lighthouse are very interesting pieces.

05/12/2018

Our Education Night program Thursday night was very well received and attended. We want to thank all for your continuing support. Our next program is Sep 20th and will be on Racine’s Fish tug the Palmer. Our speaker will be rLAMPs board member Ron Luttrell. It’s sure to be interesting. Here are a couple of pics from Thursday night.

04/30/2018

Today we completed the first phase of our exhibit at Real Racine. A new 30x40 poster about Racine’s first Lighthouse and early harbor development plans was installed, a beautiful picture of Wind Point Lighthouse from the east (i.e. the water) was hung, and our new digital frame was installed with several interesting programs available for viewing...more to come in the future. So, we are set for Open House Racine County. I will be at Real Racine on Sat from about 1 to 3 to answer any questions about rLAMPs.

I will also be at Real Racine EARLY Friday morning to participate in a short segment of Live at Daybreak with Paul Holly from Real Racine for Milwaukee TV. If you’re up early enough maybe you can catch it.