The now headless Roosevelt Island Lighthouse poses a dilemma. Once a lighthouse loses its head, is it still a lighthouse?

The Roosevelt Island Daily News

By any of its previous names – Blackwell Island Lighthouse, Welfare Island Lighthouse – the Roosevelt Island Lighthouse, over nearly 150 years, never lost its head. It’s historic plus, designed by James Renswick. Renwick also dreamed up St. Patrick’s Cathedral as well as the Roosevelt Island Smallpox Hospital, the skeleton now mostly stabilized in Southpoint Park.

This image is from the interim stage of restoring the lighthouse, a project overseen by the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation. Plans are for it being ready to celebrate its 150 birthday, next year.

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Featured

You Can’t Be All Three

Transit for the city, an attraction for visitors, and a liability on the Island’s books. The tram is already part of the MTA system. The only question is whether RIOC is ready to admit it.

Theo Gobblevelt Jul 10, 2026

April 9, 2026, during the full board meeting of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, Fay Christian said something that should have landed harder than it did. She wished RIOC were not responsible for the tram. Then she asked what it would look like if it were given to the MTA. That was not a passing comment.

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