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This lighthouse first lit its beacon on 11/15/1855. Due to the heavy fog and low clouds that often enshrouded the light at 422 feet above sea level, the facility lasted for only 36 years in service before being replaced by a second one located closer to water's edge. According to a National Park Service web site: "In 1851, a year after California entered the Union, the U.S. Coastal Survey selected the heights of Point Loma for the location of a navigational aid. Construction began three years later. Workers carved sandstone from the hillside for walls and salvaged floor tiles from the ruins of an old Spanish fort. A rolled tin roof, a brick tower, and an iron and brass housing for the light topped the squat, thick-walled building. By late summer 1854, the work was done. More than a year passed before the lighting apparatus - a five foot tall 3rd order Fresnel lens, the best available technology - arrived from France and was installed. At dusk on November 15, 1855, the keeper climbed the winding stairs and lit the oil lamp for the first time. In clear weather its light was visible at sea for 25 miles. For the next 36 years, except on foggy nights, it welcomed sailors to San Diego harbor." (See "Old Point Loma Lighthouse,"Accessed 06/13/2012.)

PCAD id: 4128