The lighthouse is located on a small island just a few feet away from the mainland in Asylum Bay on Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin.

This lighthouse marks the separation between North and South Asylum Bays.

In 1871, construction began on the Northern Asylum for the Insane which was later called the Winnebago Mental Health Institute.

[1] The lighthouse wasn't built until 1937 as the result of a "Works Progress Administration project".

The Department of Transportation soon rejected the lighthouse as a navigational light causing it never to be lit.