Established in 1789, the U.S. Lighthouse Service maintained lighthouses and a district headquarters in Buffalo until it was absorbed by the Coast Guard in 1939. Tenth District, long under the command of District Lighthouse Superintendent Roscoe House, ran a depot and lens-repair shop in Buffalo, serving Lake Erie and Lake Ontario lighthouses. The District also tested diaphone foghorns at the Buffalo station, and one of the first radiobeacons on the Great Lakes was installed at the Buffalo Breakwater Light Station in 1925 and also at the Dunkirk Lighthouse Station in 1929. Service work was continued by the Coast Guard, and in the 1950s the Buffalo base was the agency's foghorn repair center.The Lighthouse Service tenders Mace, Crocus, Sundew and the Cherry were familiar sights in Dunkirk Harbor early in the century.
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