St. Joseph lighthouse restoration project wins governor's award

The people responsible for the restoration of the St. Joseph lighthouse and pier lights are being honored with the Governor's Awards for Historic Preservation.

Six projects were named as award winners for 2016.

Citizens and volunteers raised $1.85 million to restore and preserve the lighthouses, which the city took over after the Coast Guard decommissioned them in 2005.

The city says 90-percent of the work is complete.

The award will be presented at a public ceremony in the Michigan State Capitol Rotunda in May.

All six recipients are:

• Mackinac Island State Park Commission for the ongoing archaeological investigation of Fort Michilimackinac
• City of St. Joseph, Smay Trombley Architecture, Mihm Enterprises, the Heritage Museum and Cultural Center, the Lighthouse Forever Fund and the Citizens of St. Joseph for the rehabilitation of the St. Joseph North Pier Inner and Outer Lights
• Home Renewal Systems LLC, Quinn Evans Architects, and Wolverine Building Group for the rehabilitation of Fremont High School, Fremont
• The Saginaw-Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan; Central Michigan University Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work; and the City of Mount Pleasant for the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School archaeological investigation
• City of Dearborn; Artspace Projects, Inc.; Neumann/Smith Architecture; the Monahan Company; and the East Dearborn Downtown Development Authority for the rehabilitation of Dearborn City Hall Complex
• Indian Village Historical Collections, City of Detroit, Public Lighting Authority, DTE Energy, Offshore Spars, SS Stripping/CDS Performance Coatings, Corby Energy Services, and Consulting Engineering Associates, Inc. for the Indian Village Historic Streetlight Rehabilitation Project, Detroit