The Lighthouse was built in 1872 and towers 117 ft. above sea level. It guided mariners for 61 years and was retired in 1933 when it was replaced by the South Jetty light. It is now privately owned and not open to visitors. A lighthouse which may have been erected by the Republic of Texas was dismantled during the Civil War and plans for the present Bolivar light made after that time. The Bolivar lighthouse is of brick sheathed in cast iron plates riveted together. It once glistened with a white-and-black banded exterior, but now is covered with rust and is almost a uniform black. The 52,000 candle-power beacon guided ships through the channel, which in earlier years was undredged, safely from the Gulf of Mexico into the Port of Galveston.