The early improvements on Lake Michigan began with the building of two short timber piers on each side of the channel in 1844. The pier was extended in 1856 and a 12-foot tall frame sentinel was erected at the end and outfitted with a Sixth Order Fresnel Lens. With a focal point of 16 ft., the beacon was visible for nine miles.

Four years later, the light was destroyed in a terrible storm. It was 1860 and the Civil War was underway, so funding for a replacement was delayed until two years later. In the interim, a light was hung from a post on the pier.

Following the Civil War, the engineers returned to Kenosha to begin work on improving the pier and replacing the lighthouse. The harbor was dredged and the new beacon completed. The 30-ft. timber structure was outfitted with a Sixth Order Lens shedding a fixed light visible for 12 miles. An elevated walkway from the shore to a door in the service room allowed keepers to more easily access the sentinel even when storms and waves whipped across the pier surface.

By 1870, the north pier had been extended to 1,750 feet – 800 feet extended beyond the shoreline. And as the pier was extended, the North Pier Light was moved with each improvement: 320 feet in 1875; 105 feet in 1880; 100 feet in 1881; 150 feet in 1883 and again in 1884. With each move, the elevated walkway was also extended.
Damage to both the light and the walkway occurred more than once over the next decade. The decision was made to both establish a fog signal and to replace the timber structure with a cast iron structure. In 1906, the new Pierhead Light was built, using riveted cast iron rings, with each ring tapered to a circular iron gallery. The top was capped by a tapered conical roof and the lantern outfitted with a new flashing white Fourth Order Fresnel Lens. On completion, the ironwork received a fresh coat of sparkling white paint, and in 1917, the tower was painted red.

Over the years, the fog signal building and the elevated walkway were lost to the elements. The North Pierhead beacon was illuminated in the 1920s and the automated light is now shown from a 250 mm optic.