On December 29, 1858, the Lighthouse Board announced that the new brick tower at Fenwicks Island, Delaware, was finished and that its light would first be shown on August 1 and thereafter burn every night from sunset to sunrise. The tower was 75 feet high and was topped by a 10-foot lantern, with the watch room and lantern painted black and the lower portion and keeper’s dwelling painted white. Its illuminating apparatus, a third-order Fresnel system, showed a fixed white light varied by a bright flash every two minutes. The focal plane stood 86 feet above sea level, and the light was expected to be visible for 15 nautical miles in ordinary atmospheric conditions. The lighthouse cost $23,748.96 to build in 1858. Its light was first fueled by whale oil, then kerosene, and was magnified by a Fresnel lens imported from France. The two houses flanking the lighthouse were the homes of the lighthouse keeper and his assistant and are now privately owned.