Tchefuncte River Lighthouse and Range, Madisonville, Louisiana

The Tchefuncte River is named after a Native American Tribe that inhabited the area from 600 B.C. In 1811, a small town established on the banks of the river was named Madisonville, in honor of President James Madison. Over the next century, the town flourished as a resort for the wealthy residents of New Orleans who fled the heat of the city for the cool lake breezes of Madisonville. The visitors were transported from Port Pontchartrain to the lake’s northern shore by steam ferry.
Additional boat traffic on the Tchefuncte River was produced by the Jahncke Shipyard. Fritz Jahncke, a German immigrant, used the abundant sand and clay found along the waterways of the lake’s northern shore to start a cement and concrete business to help build the growing city of New Orleans. Jahncke’s business prospered, and he eventually formed his own shipping line to transport his goods. Jahncke opened a shipyard in Madisonville to service his fleet, and the facility grew to the point where he was awarded contracts by the U.S. Government to build ships during World War I. The finished ships were floated on barges down the Tchefuncte River and out to the gulf.
On June 30, 1834, Congress appropriated $5,000 for a lighthouse. Built in 1837, the thirty-six-foot-tall brick tower was equipped with a lighting apparatus supplied by Winslow Lewis that consisted of nine lamps backed by fourteen-inch reflectors. A 212-foot breakwater was built in 1854 to protect the lighthouse, and in 1857 a fifth-order Fresnel lens was installed in the lantern room.
The tower was badly damaged during the Civil War. The new tower was constructed on the original foundation using some of the brick from its predecessor and rose ten feet higher than the first. The lantern room from the destroyed Cat Island Lighthouse was used to cap the new lighthouse, and the light from a fifth-order Fresnel lens was exhibited in 1867.
Storm-tossed waters were a constant threat to the exposed station. A late gale in 1874 severely damaged the breakwater in front of the station, and Congress appropriated $3,500 in 1875 for a substantial new breakwater to be built that year. The breakwater served its purpose for a few years until a storm in September 1879 swept it away, forcing it to be rebuilt. The breakwater was rebuilt again in 1886 using cypress piles a foot square, faced with cypress sheet piling.
A new bell tower was also built in 1887, and the bell’s characteristic was changed that year from a single blow every seven seconds to a single blow every thirty seconds.
A storm on August 19 and 20, 1888 washed the station’s outside kitchen from its foundation, damaging it beyond repair, and destroyed the woodshed and outhouses. The plank walk to the landing was also swept away along with the steps leading to the fog bell tower. A new kitchen, storehouse, and outhouses were built, and 223 feet of plank walk were placed around the dwelling and tower.
In 1903, a black, square, pyramidal structure, supported by piles and bearing a fixed white lens lantern light thirty-four feet above the water, was built in five feet of water 545 feet lakeward of Tchefuncte River Lighthouse. This light was activated on April 30, 1903 and served as a front range light to guide mariners to the mouth of the river. At some point, a single vertical black stripe was painted on the tower to help captains line up their approach to the river. A brick oil house was also added to the station in 1903 and several tons of rock were placed in the breakwater.
A hurricane struck the station in July 1915.
Electricity arrived at the lighthouse in 1935, and William Still, the last keeper, left in 1939. Three years after the light was solarized in 1952, the keeper’s dwelling was sold and moved upstream to the town of Madisonville. Through the years, the structure served as the residence for a local doctor, as a boat yard office, and as a camp. In 2004, John Poole donated the cottage to the town, and it was relocated to the grounds of the Maritime Museum Louisiana, which is located on what was the site of the Jahncke Shipyard.
The town of Madisonville assumed ownership of the lighthouse from the Coast Guard in 1999, and a group of volunteers interested in renovating the lighthouse held its first meeting on March 18, 2003 in the museum. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita interrupted the original efforts, but restoration plans resumed in 2007 backed by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Southeastern Museum Conference, a gift from the Southeastern Louisiana University Development Fund, and contributions from private groups and individuals.
In September 2012, Hurricane Isaac flooded the lighthouse, ripping off the entrance door and destroying the lowest treads of the stairway. A new steel door, donated by a local foundry, was installed in 2014.