1907 The Hillsboro Lighthouse

For decades sailors and the federal government had recognized that a lighthouse was needed at the Hillsboro Inlet to cover the 80 mile gap between the lighthouses at Jupiter and Cape Florida. As early as 1884 the inlet was surveyed for a lighthouse, but funding was slow in coming. Although Congress approved the construction of a “First Order Light” in 1901, it would be another four years before a contract was signed. In 1906 workmen arrived at the mouth of the Inlet in what was then Dade County to prepare the site for a long-awaited lighthouse that would protect sailors and ships from the treacherous offshore reefs. On March 7, 1907, the new lighthouse began shining its light out to sea. In 1979, the lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Courtesy of the Pompano Beach Historical Society. All rights reserved.