Battery Point Lighthouse was one of the first lighthouses on the California coast. Rugged mountains and unbridged rivers made coastal travel essential for the economic survival of the region. In 1855 Congress appropriated $15,000 for construction of the light station, which was completed in 1856 by the U.S. Lighthouse Service. Theophilis Magruder was the station’s first keeper, and Wayne Piland was its last before automation in 1953.