An 1842 survey by the Corps of Topographical Engineers recommended dredging the channel, but due in part to opposition by President James K. Polk, no federal funds were appropriated for a decade.

Congress voted to appropriate further funds for improvements in 1854, but President Franklin Pierce vetoed the bills, as he did again in 1855 and 1856.

From this funding, the canal dredging was completed, and two lighthouses and a nearby beacon constructed at the mouth of the channel.

A single square-head door in the base of the tower leads to a circular iron staircase inside, which goes up to the lantern.

[2] The larger, rear range light is also a cylindrical, brick structure atop a square stone pier.

The tower measures about 40 feet tall, and the original, ten-sided, iron lantern remains in place.

[2] Media related to St. Clair Flats Front and Rear Range Light at Wikimedia Commons