The ligthouse was built: 1890

The lighthouse at the head of the New Basin Canal is the location of the Coast Guard station that monitors boating activity in Lake Pontchartrain. The New Basin Canal was built by Irish and German immigrants to the city back in the 1830s as a link between the city and the lake. The canal's path followed what are now the Pontchatrain Expressway and West End Blvd. That massive neutral ground that separates West End Blvd. from Pontchartrain Blvd. is the filled-in New Basin Canal.

This two story structure with its light tower rising from the middle of its hip roof, sits on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain The still active light is a prominent feature of Lakefront Park.