Fond du Lac with no lighthouse? It almost happened. Here are 5 facts for National Lighthouse Day.

FOND DU LAC – "Besides being the symbol of the city, (the lighthouse) offers beauty, charm and authenticity, and is a place from which to see the sights of Fond du Lac," the Fond du Lac Reporter touted in 1968, after the Fond du Lac lighthouse underwent its first major renovation.

Aug. 7 is National Lighthouse Day, in honor of when U.S. Congress passed a federal protection act for all lighthouses in 1789. Globally, these structures guided travelers and marked dangerous waters, evolving alongside technology into the modern day.

Fond du Lac has been crowned with a lighthouse for the last 90 years, and eventually became the symbol for the area, adorning the city and county seals as well as local business names and logos.

Here are five facts about the lighthouse and its history.

It was built during the Great Depression under significant donations.

Lakeside Park, as it's known today, started to take shape in the 1890s, converting the space from marshland and adding the first pavilion, a swimming school, a harbor that became known as the "Big Hole" and, at the turn of the century, the now-historic bandstand.

In 1932, local lumberman W.J. Nuss proposed a lighthouse in the park, and offered a plan that didn't cost the city anything, as the nation was right in the middle of the Great Depression. According to Fond du Lac Reporter archives, Nuss donated the materials for the lighthouse, while architect Roger A. Sutherland donated the drawing and plans.

Other donors were A.J. Rosenthal, Pierce Pereell, E.A. Becker, W.H. Monoske, H.B. Rossner, A.R. Reiser and the Yacht Club, which provided the beacon for the top of the lighthouse to guide boats in and out of the harbor.

Unemployed citizens started construction in 1933, and at around the same time, the "Big Hole" was officially named Lighthouse Harbor.

When the lighthouse opened that same year, several hundred people attended the dedication ceremony, and visiting boatmen from the Fox River Valley Association's annual tour — including boaters from Appleton, Oshkosh, Neenah and Menasha — sailed in, greeted by a concert from the high school band.

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Fond du Lac's lighthouse was designed with Cape Cod inspiration.

In its coverage of the lighthouse since it was built, the Fond du Lac Reporter characterized it as a Cape Cod design for the 30-foot octagonal tower resting on top of 10 feet of flagstone.

The wood structure with stone base was also reminiscent of early farmhouses, according to archives.

The current lighthouse was was not the city's first.

An 1874 map of the city from the Fond du Lac County website shows a lighthouse marked at the mouth of the Fond du Lac River, near present-day Frazier Point.

The river's east bank, where the lighthouse was marked, held a dock for boats to come in and unload their freight, according to “The History of Fond du Lac County as Told by its Place Names” by Ruth Shaw Worthington. A nearby marina held warehouses for storage.

Fond du Lac's lighthouse was almost torn down in the 1960s.

By the 1960s, the lighthouse fell under disrepair by weather and vandalism, but the Fond du Lac Evening Optimist Club spearheaded a drive to renovate the lighthouse and save it from being razed.

City officials were optimistic in 1965 that the lighthouse would open to the public within the year, but it stayed closed until 1968 because of multiple complications, including three worker strikes involving carpenters, painters and masonry workers, according to archives.

Capelle Brothers and Diedrich Inc. replaced the upper deck and the floors at all levels of the lighthouse, and installed a column up the center of the structure and new steel bar railings at the top.

The reopening ceremony was reminiscent of the original cornerstone ceremony in 1933.

The next major restoration of the lighthouse was in 1993, again sponsored by the Evening Optimist Club, and again led by Capelle Brothers and Diedrich Inc.

All renovations to the lighthouse, including the most recent one that completed this June, preserved the original character of the structure.

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The observation deck is open until sunset in the warm months.

Now, the lighthouse is open to visitors from 8 a.m. to sunset from May into October, with stair access to the observation deck.

The lighthouse had been closed since September 2021 for repairs, and its spring reopening came at around the same time as the completed repairs to Lighthouse Drive, which upgraded parking near the lighthouse and added a walking path that connects to the existing paths in the park.

Daphne Lemke is the Streetwise reporter for the Fond du Lac Reporter. Contact her at dlemke@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Fond du Lac Reporter: Fond du Lac lighthouse: 5 facts for National Lighthouse Day