White River Light Station

Keeper Robinson began to build a new, small oil store-house near the South Pier-head Beacon Light in July 1874 to replace the one destroyed in December 1873. This store-house was completed by early August and he moved the oil butts into it.

On June 20, 1924, William Bush, who had replaced William Robinson as Keeper, reported in his log: "I have been fighting fires in the South Pier from 1 a.m. until 3 a.m." The fires took their toll and the wooden pile South Pier began to disintegrate.

The Lighthouse Tender Sumac brought a team that changed the light in the new metal South Pier-head beacon tower to Acetylene controled by a Sun-valve on Sept. 6, 1930.

In the early days of the U.S. Lighthouse Service, lighthouses were built based on two general designs with local modifications, and using local labor. This resulted in every lighthouse being a somewhat unique design, and generally in poor construction.

The lighthouse was de-activated in 1960, declared excess property by the Coast Guard and turned over to the General Services Administration; and in 1965 Fruitland Township proposed to purchase the property for use as a museum and public park.

Keeper Robinson was given the task of finishing some of the detail work on the main lighthouse. He began by painting the inside of the main lighthouse and completed the work several weeks later when he painted the inside of the lantem room.