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Gibraltar Point Lighthouse is the oldest surviving lighthouse on the Great Lakes and the second oldest surviving lighthouse in Canada. It was constructed in 1808/09 of hand-quarried stone from Queenston, near Niagara Falls. Its walls are almost two metres thick at the base. Its wick lamps were fuelled with hundreds of gallons of whale oil, then coal oil, until an electric light was installed in 1917.

At the end of the 1957 shipping season, and after nearly 150 years of service, the stone lighthouse was replaced by the federal Department of Transport with a fully automated, modern skeletal tower. The ownership of the old lighthouse was transferred to Metropolitan Toronto Parks Department in 1958. The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse has since been restored, and the surrounding land integrated into Toronto Island Park.

For details on the 200th anniversary celebration, please click here.

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