Huron Island Light stands on Lighthouse Island in Lake Superior near Big Bay, Michigan, among rocky islands and shoals that endangered ships at a key turning point for traffic bound toward Huron Bay, Keweenaw Bay, and Portage Entry. Growing nineteenth-century shipping and the 1860 loss of the S.S. Arctic helped prompt construction after Congress funded the project in 1867. Built in 1868 and first lit on October 20, it became one of the highest lights in the western Great Lakes. The station was later modernized with fog signals, new lighting systems, electricity, and automation in 1972, and it remains an active navigational aid within a protected refuge and wilderness area.