Milneburg's Port Pontchartrain was the lake's first artificial harbor. Alexander Milne, the Scot who settled here and grew rich, built, along with other investors, the Pontchartrain Railroad in 1831 that ran down Elysian Fields from the Mississippi River. People could then take a boat across to the Northshore. The group of investors built its first lighthouse in 1832, an odd device that resembled a French Revolution guillotine about 50 feet high.
In 1834, Congress appropriated money for a replacement, but it was not completed until 1839. It was an octagonal wood tower with a flashing light but stood only 28 feet high.
In 1852, Congress voted $25,000 for harbor protection and $6,000 for a new lighthouse, which was begun and finished in 1855. The apparatus from the old tower was placed in the new tower and then replaced by a more powerful lens in 1857.
The shape of the lighthouse was changed when the top of the brick tower was flared out and the height increased by 7 feet to make room for the installation of a new lantern in 1880. At one time, the lighthouse was 2,100 feet offshore, but as a result of landfill projects it now stands on dry land.
The lighthouse is no longer operational. It was aquired by the University Of New Orleans in 1991 from the Orleans Parish Levee Board. The area is now part of the UNO Research and Technology Park.