At Absecon Lighthouse, the Department of Agriculture Weather Bureau constructed a two-story brick building on the west side of the site in 1901 on a 100 × 50 foot plot. The building apparently caused rancor between Weather Bureau employees and Lighthouse Service employees, leading to the construction of a board fence separating the Weather Bureau from the lighthouse property, and it was demolished before 1955. Absecon's light was first illuminated using mineral oil, with the lamps consuming two gallons daily in summer and three and a half gallons daily in winter, when nights were longer. Oil was stored in a separate building a short distance from the light, and the brick oil house standing today was the second one on the site and was used to store oil until at least 1921. Around the turn of the 20 century, a greenhouse was built to supply plants for the site's garden, but after the Federal Lighthouse Board discovered it, the board ordered the greenhouse dismantled along with the gardens. The gardens had by then become a much-loved institution, and although the community protested vehemently, the gardens and greenhouse disappeared from the site.