Beginning in 1861, piers were built on the north and south sides of the entrance to the Black River, and the channel between them was dredged so larger ships could enter. In 1867, the piers were extended and the channel was widened to maintain greater depth. In 1872, the original South Haven light was completed as a thirty-foot-tall wooden structure with an elevated storage room on the first floor and an octagonal cast iron lantern above it. The storage room held supplies for maintaining the light and also served as shelter for keepers working there. A seventy-five-foot wooden walkway was added above the wave line from the shore to the storage room so keepers could safely reach the tower when Lake Michigan waves crashed over the pier. In 1886, plans were developed for a pierhead beacon at the end of the pier and a keeper's dwelling on a bluff near the shore. As dredging continued and the pier was extended again, the wooden tower was moved 249 feet to the end of the pier in 1901. In 1902, a Fifth Order Fresnel lens was installed in the tower's lantern room. In 1903, the wooden tower was replaced by a round white steel structure, topped by a black parapet and octagonal lantern room, and the Fifth Order Fresnel lens was transferred from the old beacon to the new lantern room. In 1913, the piers were extended once more, and the tower was moved 425 feet to a new location at the end of the pier. In 1916, a fifty-two-foot-tall steel range tower was built on the pier about 800 feet inward from the pierhead light; later it was removed. The elevated wooden walkway was replaced with an iron catwalk, and the steel tower was painted red.