Marrowstone Point forms the eastern entrance to Port Townsend Bay, and was first marked by a lens lantern on a pole in 1888, around the time when several such aids were established in the Puget Sound area. A fog bell was added to the station in 1896, and a one-and-a-half-story dwelling was constructed on the point to house the keeper and his family. In 1902, the light was placed on a small, concrete structure.

Shortly after the first keeper took up residence at the station, construction of Fort Flagler commenced on the bluff above. The fort was completed in 1907, and it became the third active fort guarding Admiralty Inlet. Together with the guns at Fort Casey on Admiralty Head and those at Fort Worden near Point Wilson, the batteries at Fort Flagler formed a "Triangle of Fire", to prevent hostile vessels from entering Puget Sound.

Mariners complained that the fog bell at the point was often inaudible, so an experimental Scotch fog gun was tried in 1913, but it too proved inadequate. A small, square cement building outfitted with three large trumpets was put into service in 1918, solving the fog signal problem. The light was eventually mounted on top of the fog signal building.

Though automated in 1962, the station still remains fairly intact. The keeper's dwelling is home to the Marrowstone Marine Field Station, and the short, squat structure housing the lighthouse and fog signal still stands at the water's edge. Fort Flagler is now Fort Flagler State Park and includes a military museum.

References

1. Umbrella Guide to Washington Lighthouses, Sharlene and Ted Nelson, 1990.
2. Lighthouses of the Pacific, Jim Gibbs, 1986.