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Event

Beaver Island Coast Guard station closes until April 1959, 1958

Also December 1958 Beaver Island Coast Guard closure · 1958 Beaver Island station winter closure

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

Locator map: Beaver Island highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago
Took place at Beaver IslandLocator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.
TypeEvent
Dates1958-12 – 1959-04-01
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Locator map: Beaver Island highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago
Took place at Beaver IslandLocator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.
Event
Dates
1958-12 – 1959-04-01
Kind
Closure
Where
Beaver Island
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
militarymaritimetransportationcommunicationcommunity
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

The December 1958 Beaver Beacon reports that the Beaver Island Coast Guard station was closed until April 1, 1959, describing this as the first closure in the island’s station history. Personnel were transferred, including Chief Tom Calabro to Navy Pier; Bert McDonough became civilian light tender and caretaker. The harbor-mouth automatic flasher continued, while the future of Beaverhead Light remained uncertain in the newspaper’s account.

Evidence limits

The report does not provide official station orders, personnel records, light logs, navigation coverage details, or the later reopening record.

Sources

  1. Reports that the U.S. Coast Guard station would be closed until April 1, 1959, which the Beacon calls the first such closure in island history. It recalls a station history reaching back to 1917 and a civilian Life Boat Station before then; says the harbor-mouth automatic flasher continued, Beaverhead Light’s fate was uncertain, Bert McDonough became civilian light tender and caretaker, and personnel transferred, including Chief Tom Calabro to Navy Pier. It does not provide official station orders, staffing records, light logs, or the later reopening record. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1958-12_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held five-page issue scan is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the closure, transfer, and lighthouse-uncertainty notice; it does not expand the Coast Guard or navigation record.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1958-12_Beaver-Beacon

Added 3 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Island Coast Guard station closes until April 1959, 1958”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-coast-guard-station-closes-until-april-1959/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, December 1958, “COAST GUARD STATION CLOSED.” (and 1 further source listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-03. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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