💡On October 15, 1874, lighthouse keeper William R. Russell lit the oil lamp inside the new, first-order Fresnel lens for the first time. He most likely walked to the tower from his residence at the old St. Augustine Light Station, upon which the sea was rapidly encroaching. The lens is 9-feet tall, and Russell would have had to climb inside it to light the lamps. The jewel-like lens was hand-made just for St. Augustine in Paris, France by the company of Sauter & Lemonier. It represented the height of Victorian engineering and technology and cast its beam much farther out to sea than its predecessor. The new light now demonstrated three, fixed-flashes, from three, bulls-eye panels that could be seen from up to 19-24 nautical miles depending on atmospheric conditions. Fueled by oil and then kerosene before electricity came to the Light Station, the original lens would have given off a brightly hued, yellow light. Citizens living in town would have immediately noticed, and many have rem...