Petite Pointe Au Sable, a little point of sand jutting into Lake Michigan, became a navigation hazard as shipping increased after the Civil War, largely because of the expanding lumber industry, and several shipwrecks occurred there, including the beaching of the schooner Pride in April 1871. To aid navigation, the United States Congress approved funding in 1872 for a lighthouse, but the site's inaccessibility by road delayed completion until 1874. A house was built for the keeper, his assistant, and their families, and the first keeper was James Davenport of Mackinac Island. The light used a third-order Fresnel lens set 108 feet above the lake. The tower was painted white in 1899 to improve daytime visibility for ships, then restored to its original brick in the 1970s. In 1902, the first overland route to the lighthouse was cut from Mears. The lighthouse was renamed Little Sable Point Light Station in 1910. In 1915, its original lard-burning wick lamp was replaced with a brighter incandescent oil vapor, kerosene-burning lamp; visible for nineteen miles, the light flashed every thirty seconds. The lamp was electrified and automated in 1954, after which a keeper was no longer needed and the house and ancillary buildings were razed.