The U.S. Government purchased this one-acre site, and construction of the Two Harbors Light Station began in 1891. The lighthouse has burned continuously since 1892 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its original light was a Fourth-order Fresnel lens using oil and wicks, which the keeper had to keep clean and operating properly. The current apparatus, installed in 1970, uses two separate beacons with two 1,000-watt bulbs each and can be seen about 17 miles across the lake. The light is now a private aid to navigation maintained by the Lake County Historical Society, and its pattern of light and darkness remains the same as when it began in 1892. The station includes a 49-foot-6-inch light tower with the light 78 feet above the lake, a keeper's house attached to the tower, an oil house, a skiff house, a fog signal building with steam compressors for fog horns, an assistant keeper's home, and a garage.