The United States Lighthouse Service hung an acetylene, white light lens lantern from a post on this site on December 12, 1887. A light keeper rowed out to Browns Point from Tacoma once a week to change the wick and polish the lantern, and the light guided ships and boats coming into Commencement Bay until a two-story wood frame lighthouse was built in 1903. Oscar Brown, the first light keeper, began duty on October 26, 1903. The fixed-light lantern sat on a shelf inside the second story of the building and was pushed outside during the dark hours to be seen from great distances. A fog bell hung above the light and was operated by a clockwork mechanism that required manually winding a crank every 45 minutes. On December 1, 1922, a flashing electric light replaced the lantern, displaying a group of 3 flashes every 15 seconds, and the bell was adapted to be rung electronically. In 1933, today’s white concrete lighthouse replaced the 30-year-old wood structure; it stands 34 feet high and 38 feet above sea level, and a new 1800 candlepower light continued the 3-flash pattern. An air horn gave 3 blasts every 30 seconds, including a 17-second silence between each sequence of blasts. In 1963 the light was boosted to 11,000 candlepower and automated, and an automatic bulb changer replaced burned-out bulbs. A telephone call from Foss Launch and Tug Company turned on the compressor for the diaphragm foghorn that gave 3 blasts every 30 seconds. During the 1980s and 90s, a white 190-millimeter beacon flashed every 5 seconds, and the horn gave 2 blasts every 30 seconds when activated by telephone by the Tacoma Fire Department across Commencement Bay. A white, variable, rotating beacon with a 12 mile range was installed in 1997 and flashes every 5 seconds. The foghorn blasts 2 times every 30 seconds when activated at .8 mile visibility by the VM 1000 fog detector atop the lighthouse. The lighthouse cottage, boathouse, oil house, and pump house are on the National Registry of Historic Places.