The Marblehead Lighthouse, originally known as the Sandusky Bay Light Station, was built in 1821 to aid navigation and prevent shipwrecks and is the oldest lighthouse in continuous operation on the Great Lakes. William Kelly received the contract and, using local limestone, completed the 50-foot-high structure in eight weeks, with a diameter of 25 feet at the base and 12 feet at the top. When the lighthouse had a keeper, the beacon was updated with ever brighter lamps and more powerful lenses, and at the turn of the 19th century a watch room and new lantern room were added, increasing its height by 15 feet. Its beacons were lit first with whale oil, then lard oil, kerosene, and electricity in 1923, and as of 2018 the light is an LED visible up to eleven nautical miles. Benajah Wolcott, appointed by President James Monroe on June 24, 1822, was the first keeper and maintained the lighthouse until he and his son died of cholera. His widow, Rachel Miller Wolcott, succeeded him and became the first female keeper on the Great Lakes. After she remarried in 1834, her husband, Jeremiah Van Benschoten, was officially appointed the third keeper, although both tended the lighthouse until he resigned in 1941. The light has had 16 keepers, including Johanna McGee, the second female keeper, who replaced her husband George after his death and served until 1903. The last civilian keeper, Edward Herman, retired in 1943, after which the beacon became the responsibility of the Coast Guard. In 1998 the State of Ohio assumed ownership, and the lighthouse has been on the National Register of Historical Places since 1969.