The U.S. Lighthouse Service constructed the Staten Island Lighthouse Depot on the former site of the New York Marine Hospital. The depot, which began operation in 1864, was the key manufacturing, storage, supply, and maintenance center for the Lighthouse Service’s Third District. Activity at the depot included experimentation on lamps, illuminants, and Fresnel lenses. Under the Coast Guard in the 1960s, budget cuts led to much of the workload being transferred elsewhere. By 1965, the Staten Island Depot was closed.
In 1998, the former site of the U.S. Lighthouse Service Depot was selected as the location of a National Lighthouse Center and Museum. After a number of years of inactivity, a new Board of Trustees and a group of Museum Advisors and Friends revived the museum. Linda Dianto has served as president and is currently the Executive Director of the museum. For more than a decade, Linda has devoted her energies to the cause of developing the National Lighthouse Museum.
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Jeremy D’Entremont is the author of more than 20 books and hundreds of articles on lighthouses and maritime history. He is the president and historian for the American Lighthouse Foundation and founder of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses, and he has lectured and narrated cruises throughout the Northeast and in other regions. He is also the producer and host of the U.S. Lighthouse Society podcast, “Light Hearted.” He can be emailed at Jeremy@uslhs.org