A light station was first established on Presque Isle in 1818, just the second lighthouse on Lake Erie. The first tower to be constructed on the site was a 20 foot high square tower of unknown construction. It was destroyed in the late 1850s and was replaced by a 56 foot round brick tower which was destroyed less than 10 years later and replaced by this light tower. It turned out that the first two towers were built on quicksand!

First lit in 1867, this third lighthouse guided ships on Lake Erie to Pennsylvania’s only port on the Great Lakes. The landform known as "Presque Isle" (French for "almost an island" or peninsula) created an important harbor for the state, providing access to other ports on the Great Lakes and, via the Erie Canal, to the Hudson River and New York City.

This third tower was first known as the "Presque Isle" light and was operational from 1867 to 1899. It was constructed on a base of timbers, limestone and cement with the tapered 49 foot tower made from sandstone and lined inside with brick. An attached entryway served as a work room and for oil storage.

The original optic was a third order Fresnel lens, typical of port lights on the Great Lakes. The focal plane of the lens was 128 feet above Lake Erie. In 1902, the Fresnel lens was sent to Marblehead Lighthouse near Sandusky, Ohio.

A two-story "salt-box" style keeper’s home was built nearby in 1867 and it was renovated in 1979. It is a private residence today. The grounds are owned and operated by the City of Erie as a city park.