On Wednesday, the Sherburne History Center, held its second installment of the 2017 Winter Lecture Series. The speaker was Renae Elert, a graduate student in the history department at St Cloud State University and a teacher at Apple Valley Eastview High School. 

 

Elert spoke on the history of the Split Rock Lighthouse in northern Minnesota. The lighthouse was built after the Mataafa Storm on Lake Superior in 1905 sank or damaged 29 vessels, killed 36 seamen, and cost shipping losses of over $3.5 million. The location for the lighthouse was selected for the natural cliff jutting out into the lake, which made the beacon visible as far as 60 miles away on clear evenings. Split Rock Lighthouse was completed in 1910 and was an active lighthouse until it was decommissioned in 1969. Today the grounds form Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, and the lighthouse itself is an historic site operated by the Minnesota Historical Society.

 

The Winter Lecture Series at SHC continues into March, with current and former SCSU history students speaking on a variety of topics. The next lecture, featuring returning speaker Jeff Williams, will be held on Wed., Mar. 8 at 2 pm.