It was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Point Gratiot Lighthouse Complex in 1979.

The alterations and improvements in progress at Dunkirk, under the direction of the engineer department of the arm, afford an appropriate occasion for renovating and perfecting the aids to navigation at this station.”[6] Additionally, in 1874, the Annual Report of the Lighthouse board, again, noted the rapidly declining condition of the lighthouse: “The old tower is in a very precarious condition; large sections of the outer shell may fall off at any moment, thereby endangering not only the whole tower with the apparatus, but also the dwelling and its tenants.

In 2022, the Dunkirk Planning Board approved the addition of a pavilion to the property for hosting weddings and other outdoor events.

There is one room devoted to each of the branches of the armed forces, with an additional building housing artifacts from the Coast Guard.

Almost all artifacts contained in the museum are donated by local residents or by the United States Coast Guard, due to their association with the lighthouse.

[12][13] The Archives Center at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History has a collection (#1055) of souvenir postcards of lighthouses and has digitized 272 of these and made them available online.

These include postcards of Dunkirk (Point Gratiot) Lighthouse [14] with links to customized nautical charts provided by National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.