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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Can You Hear Us?

At the first public RIOC board meeting after Susan Rosenthal’s dismissal, a longtime resident had to borrow an official’s voice to ask whether the people governing Roosevelt Island could hear us

Eleanor Rivers Oct 16, 2026

In earlier meetings, a bright light behind Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation Vice President and General Counsel Gretchen Robinson had left her face nearly invisible. On July 2, 2020, with Susan Rosenthal gone and a new administration forming, Gretchen appeared fully lit.

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