Years of weather and wear left the Cape Florida Lighthouse in need of restoration. The work was long but exciting: craftsmen laid approximately 23,000 custom-made bricks from Tennessee to repair the tower, the lantern room, watch room, stairs, spider column, and other metalwork were reproduced in cast iron, and the lighthouse was whitewashed as it had been in 1855. The restored lighthouse celebrated its reopening in 1996, the same year Miami celebrated its 100th birthday. Its history included its construction in 1825 as a 65-foot brick tower with wooden stairs, rebuilding in 1846–1847 with cast iron stairs, raising the tower in 1855 from 65 feet to 95 feet with the stairs extended and a Second Order Fresnel Lens installed, repairs in 1866, purchase by the State of Florida in 1966, renovation in 1968–1970, and restoration in 1996 to 1855 specifications.