[2] A notable engineering accomplishment of its time, it was built by Scottish engineer George Henry Slight who had been recruited by Chilean President Jorge Montt, through the Chilean ambassador in London Agustin Ross, in order to establish a lighthouse service in Chile.

Slight's diary records his impressions of the Evangelistas on his arrival there: I never imagined seeing something so wild and desolate as those emerging dark rocks in the middle of the raging waves.

With a dim light on the horizon we could see large waves crashing heavily in the western part of the islands: a vision that hardly anyone can imagine...[3]Slight had problems with bad weather, the supply of materials and equipment, unrest and lack of discipline among his workers, disease and living conditions.

By 18 September 1896 the lighthouse had been sufficiently completed for Jorge Montt to visit for a ceremonial turning-on of the light.

These islands are a good landfall both by day and by night, as they are 170 feet high, and the light is visible 20 miles.