Point Retreat Light Station is one of sixteen staffed navigational lights established by the U.S. Government in Alaska.
Lighted on September 15, 1904, it has been part of a system of navigational aids to safely guide commercial and recreational vessels through the dangerous and heavily traveled southeast Alaska waterway known as the Inside Passage.
It is located a short distance north of the City of Juneau and is accessible only by water or air. The U.S. Lighthouse Service constructed the existing light tower and support buildings and structures in 1924.
One of the first concrete lighthouses built in Alaska during the 1920s, often to replace older wood frame buildings. Point Retreat's architecture is influenced by the Art Moderne.
Keepers sought assignment to Point Retreat because they could bring their families with them and because of the station's close proximity to the cities of Juneau and Douglas.
In 1973, the U.S. Coast Guard automated Point Retreat Light Station and removed the remaining staff. Although the light continues to guide commercial and recreation vessels through Southeast Alaska's Inside Passage, the period of significance ends in 1953.
The discovery of rich gold deposits in upper Yukon River tributaries at the close of the nineteenth century prompted a huge increase in the number of ships navigating Southeast Alaska's Inside Passage, a safer route for ships to travel than the open unprotected ocean route to the west.
In the late 1890s, watercraft of every description converged upon the Pacific Northwest ports to sail north. Once they passed British Columbia waters, there were few guides. Fog, rain, strong tides, and a rocky shoreline made the Inside Passage particularly difficult, especially for large steamers overloaded with prospectors and freight.
Over three hundred accidents in Inside Passage waters were reported in 1898. Although Alaska's governors had been urging the U.S. Government to mark navigation hazards along Alaska's coasts for over a decade, only a few markers and buoys had been installed.
In 1901, President William McKinley issued executive orders reserving land specifically for lighthouse purposes in Alaska. One of the reserves was of 1,505 acres at the northern end of Admiralty Island known as Point Retreat, near the junction of Stephens Passage and Lynn Canal.
The original lighthouse built at the site was a white hexagonal wood tower topped by a black hexagonal lantern. Beginning operation September 15, 1904, the site did not initially house a fog-signal as would many Alaskan light stations.
Other site buildings included a one and one-half story dwelling south of the light tower and a boathouse east of the dwelling.
Prior to 1917, the station was not staffed and reduced to a minor light. A new acetylene light was established on site. Annual light reports from 1920-1923 indicate that the light was found extinguished at each visit.