The first Fire Island Lighthouse was built in 1825 at the edge of the Fire Island Inlet. The foundation of which can still be seen a few steps from the current and familiar black-banded lighthouse completed in 1858. It rises 166 feet above the sea. Originally it was covered in a buff colored cement wash was was replaced in 1891 with the now familiar black-and-white bands. Raised above the surrounding ground the keepers quarters provided housing for three keepers and their families. The operation of the lighthouse in those days was manual. The clock mechanism had to wound every four hours and whale oil had to be carried up the stairs to keep the light lit.

Originally, the first structure was built right at the edge of the inlet. Now, 175 years later that edge is about six miles further east. This drift caused the Federal Government to extinguish the light in 1974 and transfer responsibility to the Robert Moses State Park water tower. In the ensuing years the lighthouse deteriated badly with most of it outer cement wash sliding off. The Fire Island National Seashore (FINS) ended up owning it but without funds or plans to put it to use. Then on May 25th, 1986, the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society celebrated its first fund-raising goal of 1.2 million with the dedication of this handsome stone structure as a Visitor Information and Reception Center. That evening, the Relighting Celebration involved the largest flotilla of boats ever assembled on Long Island as the beacon, the new Coast Guard lantern, was turned on.

After three previous attempts by others to save the Lighthouse, this small group of community activists mobilized a broad coalition of people. The crumbling tower had been declared "unsafe and beyond preservation" by the U.S. Coast Guard, but the leadership of the group succeeded in having the Lighthouse site transferred from the Coast Guard to the Fire Island National Seashore, and the Lighthouse was proclaimed a National Historic Landmark.

Since its inception in 1982, the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society's directive has been to preserve through education the nautical heritage of Fire Island and Long Island, and to ensure that this monument remains an integral part in the continuing teaching of a very important facet of maritime history.