Dofflemyer Point Lighthouse, Olympia Washington

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The Dofflemyer Point Light is the only lighthouse-type major aid to navigation below the Narrows on Puget Sound. The light is the major navigational aid on lower Puget Sound and guides shipping traffic through a relatively narrow entrance to Budd Inlet and distinguishes the entrance from the entrances to several other inlets which form the southern extremities of Puget Sound and are separated from Budd Inlet by only small points of land.

Olympia on Budd Inlet was an early and important port. It was established as the first Custom House on Puget Sound in 1851 and was an active destination in early shipping of lumber and steamboat traffic as early as 1853. The City of Olympia built a mile long dock to deep water in 1887. This is the reported date of the first pole light at Dofflemyer Point. In the early 1890's, dredging of the boat basin at Olympia commenced. Further large scale dredging was undertaken in 1909-1911 and ship building was done at Olympia during World War I. The Port of Olympia was created in 1922. Wharf facilities were built throughout the 1920's. A primary cargo was finished lumber. From 1928 to 1930 in fact 198 million board of lumber were shipped out of Budd Inlet. In the early 1930's the loading berths were deepened and the turning basin widened to accommodate more ships at the Port. Other freight included canned fruit from an Olympia cannery as well as shellfish from local processing plants. This increased traffic probably spurred the construction of a larger and more visible aid to navigation at the entrance to Inlet at Dofflemyer Point.

Continued high volume shipping activity extended through the 1960's and 1970's when the primary cargo from the Port of Olympia turned to unprocessed logs bound for the Orient. This trend continues today.

Concurrently, the volume pleasure craft increased after the turn of the century with the establishment of the Olympia Yacht Club and the popularity of boating.

Boston Harbor also has had a small marina since the mid 1930's and is now a popular residential and recreational boating locale.

The site known as Dofflemyer Point was pre-historically known as "house-pits" for the location of dwellings there by Puget Sound Salish Indians. In 1841, the U.S. Exploring Expedition named the point Brown's Point, for James B. Brown, a carpenter's mate on the expedition.

Isaac and Susan Allen Dofflemyer (Dofflemyre) came by ox team from Bonaport, Iowa to Portland Oregon in 1850. They located in Thurston County in 1851 or 1852. They located at the point and took out a 320 Donation Land Claim in the area. Dofflemyre was a carriage and cabinet maker by trade.

In 1904 P. P. Carroll announced plans for a seaport at Dofflemyer Point called "Harriman City" with the bay called "Port Olympic". He was followed in 1907 by another promoter, C.D. Hillman, who had promoted boom towns throughout the northwest. He sponsored excursions from Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia on Steamers and sold lots in his large plat of Boston Harbor. Hillman did build a hotel and planked sidewalks but little else. Hillman eventually was convicted of federal mail fraud for his many ventures.

In 1928 "Olympia Homes" a housing development was envisioned at Boston Harbor by Norpia Stock Company, a group of Olympia investors but it too came to naught. Still later in 1935, Governor Clarence Martin proposed a federal rural rehabilitation project for Boston Harbor to create an industrial community. That too failed.

Residents in Boston Harbor lived primarily on subsistence lots. At the point itself, the Robinson family had a shrimp house for processing the shrimp caught between Boston Harbor and Hartstene Island.

The light for aid to navigation was established in 1887 according to Light List records. The station was a light suspended on a pole on a wharf at the point. The pole had a small wooden overhang to shelter the light which was raised and lowered by a rope and pulley system. The light was listed as 20 feet above high water with a visibility of six miles and 40 candlepower.

The first recorded keeper of the Dofflemyer Point Light was Leonard Sperring who retired in 1912. There is no record of when Mr. Sperring began his work or who may have preceded him. Edward R. Robinson took over the job in 1912 and retired in 1942. His son, Robert E. Robinson was the keeper until 1961 and they were followed by Nellie Vassell and Madeline Campbell who looked after the light and foghorn until they were fully automated in 1976. A large supply boat The Heather brought supplies for the lighthouse in the early years once a year including coal oil for the lantern, rope, wicks, lanterns and other supplies as needed.

The light was one of the last pole lamps on Puget Sound until it was rebuilt in its current configuration in the 1930s. The current light is a distinctively designed structure and is not duplicated elsewhere in Puget Sound. It was built under the auspices of the Office of Superintendent of Lighthouses, 17^th District, Portland, Oregon and designed in 1933 by "P.H.P." according the plans. Information from local sources indicates that Rufuss Kindle, a local contractor, actually constructed the facility which replaced the pole light in 1934 or 1935. The light is listed in the 1935 Light List. The light was automated when this facility was built but had a manually operated fog horn which was also automated in 1976.

Site Description

The Dofflemyer Point Light is located about nine miles north of Olympia, Washington, and its port at the end of a sandy point at the east entrance to Budd Inlet, the southernmost inlet of Puget Sound. The light is located in an area known as Boston Harbor. The Coast Guard has an easement to the site over private property. The area adjoining the light is now used for private housing. Originally, the site was adjacent to a commercial cannery operation.

The light, which is classified as a major aid to navigation, is a 30-foot-high white concrete eight-sided pyramidal structure set on an octagonal base, approximately 12 feet in diameter. The current light is atop a stanchion on the structure which was built in 1933-34. Previously the site was only lit by a lamp on a pole. The present structure has a small gabled extension on the east side. A double-hung window is on the north side on the lower section and a small rectangular opening is on the upper section. An exterior metal stairway ladder is on the southwest side. A paneled door opening is on the southeasterly side. The light currently has a 2.03 amp clear lens light with 716 candela of power. It currently has a 6-second light with a focal plane 30 feet high. The light reaches a nine-mile range. The automatic fog horn is a rectangular metal box with a projecting hood. It is mounted adjacent to the light stanchion. The light and horn atop the structure are surrounded by a 2-foot 8-inch high open metal railing. A door at the base of the structure gives access to the light through an interior stairway.

Originally the tower had four foot high metal shelter house with a hipped copper roof with plate glass windows on four sides with a lower section of fixed copper louvers. A 300 mm lens was inside the shelter house. The light which was a 100-watt clear p25,c5 Mazda had 1600 candlepower.

The facility originally had a manually-operated Cunningham fog horn which was automated in 1976.

In 1962 the lighting apparatus was increased to 2500 candlepower. In 1972 the glass lamp was replaced with a plastic lens and changed to d.c. power. This is probably when the shelter house was removed. The lamp is currently on a stanchion pole on the top of the structure.

The loss of the metal shelter top section of the facility is the major change to the integrity of the structure. With the increased candlepower and change to a plastic lens, the shelter was no longer deemed necessary.