Though originally constructed on the bay, the current resting place for the light is on Port Lavaca, alongside Highway 35.

In response, the Board asked Congress in 1854 for funds to build a screw-pile lighthouse on the southern end of Halfmoon Reef on the eastern side of Matagorda Bay.

The lighthouse was completed by the first of July, and on the same day the sixth order Fresnel lens displayed its fixed white light.

However, mariners complained that the light resembled the one at Matagorda too closely, and a red glass chimney was placed over the lantern to give it an easily identified beacon.

As the new century arrived, the traffic around Port Lavaca increased and in 1902, the light was given a fourth order red lens lantern as a replacement.

Bill Bauer and Henry Smith eventually purchased the lighthouse and planned to use it as a headquarters for their dredging business at Point Comfort.