The Bolivar Point Lighthouse has been a landmark near the ferry landing from Galveston for 152 years. A group is trying to save the grand tower so that it will stand another century or more.
The lighthouse was built in 1872 by the federal government near the tip of Bolivar Peninsula and the entrance to Galveston Harbor. The beacon guided ships for 61 years until being extinguished in 1933 by modern navigation devices.
In 1947 the property was auctioned off as surplus and purchased by E.V. Boyt and his sister Ila Maxwell. They wanted to run cattle on the land and use the two houses next to the lighthouse as ranch headquarters.
At one time the family’s ranch encompassed almost all the peninsula. The Houston Audubon Society is now one of largest landowners.
The Boyt-Maxwell family still owns the lighthouse and chartered a nonprofit to raise $2.5 million and oversee its preservation. The Bolivar Point Lighthouse Foundation has already repainted the tower in the original black-and-white stripes and replaced the steel door.
The lighthouse is an engineering marvel. It is a brick tower with buttresses wrapped in cast iron. An iron spiral staircase in the center of the tower climbs more than 100 feet to the lantern room.
During the hurricane of 1900 that destroyed Galveston, more than a hundred residents rode out the storm in the tower. Then in 1915 it again became a refuge for 61 people escaping a hurricane.
During Hurricane Ike in 2008, heavy winds damaged the metal crown of the lighthouse. As part of the restoration, the entire upper portion of the lighthouse was removed.
The Bolivar Point Lighthouse is one of seven lighthouses remaining on the Texas coast. The foundation plans to open the lighthouse to the public in the future. In the meantime, see the progress at open houses announced at bolivarpointlighthouse.org.
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This article appears in August 15 • 2025.