Built to guide vessels away from the notoriously dangerous and rough coastline and to let them know proximity of the nearby bay and entrance, the lighthouse was one of the first to be automated.

The lighthouse tower portion is now located at the Woodley Island Marina within the City of Eureka.

A fixed, fourth-order Fresnel lens was removed from the Humboldt Harbor Light and installed in the 35-foot (11 m) tower at Table Bluff in late October 1892.

A modern optic was installed in the tower, and the Fresnel lens was shipped to San Diego to be displayed in the Old Point Loma Light.

The 4th order optic was shipped to the Point Loma Light in San Diego which is operated as a museum by the National Park Service.