Charity Island Light was established on Big Charity Island in Lake Huron to warn vessels of hazardous shoals that threatened lumber traffic from the Saginaw Bay region. Funded in 1856 and built in 1857, it began with a 39-foot tower and a fixed white Fourth Order Fresnel lens visible for 13 nautical miles, forming part of a chain of coastal lights. In 1900 it received an acetylene light that flashed every 10 seconds and was fully automated, reportedly the first such installation on the Great Lakes. The tower was raised in 1907, but the light was abandoned in 1939 and later fell into disrepair before preservation efforts began.