The Fenwick Island Lighthouse, significant to Delaware's rich maritime history, was placed in service in 1858 by the nine-member Lighthouse Board, which Congress had established in 1852 to improve lighthouse service, using the latest lighthouse technology to warn ships of the dangerous Fenwick Shoals. The Bureau of Lighthouses replaced the Board in 1910 and ran the service until 1931, when it was turned over to the U.S. Coast Guard. After the Coast Guard decommissioned it, the State of Delaware acquired the Fenwick Island Lighthouse from the federal government through the General Services Administration as Historic Surplus Property on September 12, 1981, and management was immediately turned over to the private non-profit Friends of the Fenwick Island Lighthouse. In 1979, the Department of Interior listed it in the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its significance in Delaware's rich maritime history.