U.S. #2969
1995 32¢ Split Rock, Lake Superior
Great Lakes Lighthouses
· From the second set in the Lighthouses Series
Stamp Category: Commemorative
Series: Lighthouses
Value: 32¢, rate for first-class mail
First Day of Issue: June 17, 1995
First Day City: Cheboygan, Michigan
Quantity Issued: 120,240,000
Printed by: Stamp Venturers
Printing Method: Photogravure
Format: Booklet panes of five in sheets of 200
Perforations: 11.2 vertically
Why the stamp was issued: To pay tribute to significant lighthouses along the Great Lakes.
About the stamp design: Artist Howard Koslow, who had provided the artwork for the first set of Lighthouse stamps in 1990, painted the Great Lakes Lighthouses as well. Having become a bit of a lighthouse expert while working on the first set, he researched and suggested 15 possible lighthouses for the 1995 stamps. In the end, the lighthouses selected represented each of the Great Lakes. The booklet cover pictures the top of the Spectacle Reef Lighthouse. Beside that is a map of the Great Lakes with the locations of each of the five lighthouses marked by red dots.
Koslow’s painting for the Split Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior depicts the structure atop a massive gray cliff that fills most of the stamp. Koslow worked from photos provided by the Split Rock Museum for his painting.
First Day City: The Great Lakes Lighthouse stamps were released in a special ceremony aboard the US Coast Guard cutter Sundew in Cheboygan, Michigan.
About the Lighthouse Series: Several lighthouses had been featured on stamps prior to 1990, but lighthouse enthusiasts were calling for more. In 1987, James W. Hyland III, chairman of the Lighthouse Preservation Society, submitted a list of 10 lighthouses he thought should be honored on stamps to the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee. Initially, the committee supported his idea and proposed issuing 10 stamps in two panes honoring all of the lighthouses. However, the USPS felt that would make for too many stamps, so they opted to just issue five, though a sixth would be pictured on the booklet cover. Two of the six lighthouses had been on stamps before, Cape Hatteras and Sandy Hook.
The stamps were issued on April 26, 1990, to mark the 200th anniversary of the creation of the Revenue Marine (later the Revenue Cutter Service). Five years later, the USPS issued a second booklet featuring lighthouses from the Great Lakes. Both of these sets proved quite popular, so the USPS continued issuing stamps honoring lighthouses from different areas of the country every few years, with the final issue coming in 2021. You can read more about the series and find the individual sets here.
History the stamp represents: Since ancient times light has been used as a navigational aid for ships. The Egyptian King Ptolemy I ordered the creation of what was probably the world’s first lighthouse, which was completed in 285 B.C. This structure was about four hundred feet tall, and had an open fire as its light source. It was located on the Island of Pharos, and survived for nearly 1,500 years.
More than 3,000 years later, the Split Rock lighthouse protected ships from what has been called “the most dangerous piece of water in the world.” Congress appropriated $75,000 for a lighthouse to be located at this site on the rugged north shore of western Lake Superior after 28 ships were endangered and six lost in a storm in November of 1905. The lighthouse was completed in 1910, and remained in use until 1969. In 1971 it was deeded to Minnesota, and has been restored to its pre-1924 appearance.