Yerba Buena Light
History
The island's lighthouse connection began in 1873 when the Lighthouse Service moved the district's depot from Mare Island to the southeast side of Yerba Buena Island. In 1875 construction was completed on the 25-foot (7.6 m) tower with a fifth order Fresnel lens, brought from the recently decommissioned Yaquina Bay Light in Newport, Oregon. In 1886 another fifth order lens replaced the previous one. In 1933, a tunnel was bored through Yerba Buena Island to serve as a link between the east and west sections of the Oakland Bay Bridge. The light was automated by the United States Coast Guard in 1958. It is currently an active aid to navigation and not open to the public. Now that the lighthouse is automated, the former keeper's quarters are now the home of the Coast Guard Admiral.
Head keepers
- N. D. Tuttle (1875 – 1877).
- Reinhold Holzhuter (1877 – 1880).
- John C. Linné (1881 – 1885).
- George B. Koons (1885 – 1888).
- John A. F. McFarland (1888 – 1892).
- Henry Hall (1892).
- John M. Nilsson (1892 – 1893).
- Richard A. Weiss (1893 – 1904).
- Herbert H. Luff (1904 – 1921).
- John P. Kofod (1921 – 1928).
- Albert N. Speelman (1928 – at least 1935).
- Lemuel C. Miner (at least 1940 – 1943).
- John J. Woyner (1943 – 1944).
- Wayne R. Piland ( – 1946).
- James C. Moore (1946 – 1947).
- Fred Zimmermann (n/a).
- Wayne R. Piland (1953 – 1958).
