On October 15, 1874, lighthouse keeper William R. Russell lit the oil lamp inside the new, first-order Fresnel lens for the first time. He most likely walked to the tower from his residence at the old, St. Augustine Light Station, upon which the sea was rapidly encroaching. The lens is 9-feet tall, and Russell would have had to climb inside it to light the lamps. The jewel-like lens was hand-made just for St. Augustine in Paris, France by the company of Sauter & Lemonier. It represented the heig

The First Order Fresnel Lens was installed in 1874 in the St. Augustine Lighthouse. It came all the way from France! Our lens has 370 individual prisms and weighs roughly 2 tons. A 1000-watt light bulb currently serves as it light source, and has since the tower was electrified in 1936. | St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum