Charts have been found that show an 1840s expedition named today’s Browns Point as Point Harris after a sailmaker’s mate, Alvin Harris. It is not certain whether the point was later re-named after a member of the 1846 British expedition or the 1877 U.S. expedition. Browns Point was known as Point Brown until about the 1920s.

On December 12, 1887, two years before Washington became a state, a fixed white light lens lantern was placed on a white post on Point Brown. It was about twelve feet above sea level and 50 yards from the low water end of shore. In 1901 the first lighthouse and a house for the lighthouse keeper were built. The lighthouse was a wood frame structure on wood pilings off shore. At low tide one could walk to the lighthouse, but at high tide it was necessary to take a rowboat.

The first white residents of Browns Point were the lighthouse keeper, Oscar Brown, and his wife, Annie. They arrived by government boat in October 1903. The rowboat used by Oscar and his crew of two or three men no longer exists. A replica constructed in 1994 by boat builder Mar Vlahovich is housed in the original boathouse located next door to the lighthouse keeper’s house.

For the next 30 years Oscar Brown tended the light and battery-operated bell. Every evening at exactly sundown Brown would light the lamp in the attic. Each morning at sunrise he put it out. When the bell rang all night long due to fog, he had to rewind the mechanism every 45 minutes. When the bell would not function properly during a fog, he and Annie manned the lighthouse – he with a sledgehammer and she with a timer. She monitored the timed intervals as he struck the bell.

The area became a public park in 1964 when the station closed and an agreement to convert the site to a public park was reached with the Federal Government. Browns Point Lighthouse Park lies on the tip of historic Browns Point. The Park provides the community waterfront access, enticing beachcombers year round and sunbathers and picnickers during the summer. A large green space makes this a nice spot for a picnic as you watch the deep-sea ships entering the Port of Tacoma.

2021 Lighthouse Restoration
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2018 Improvements

Parks Tacoma completed a project in August 2018 that included a new paved parking lot and promenade built to Americans with Disabilities Act standards, plus new landscaping, picnic tables, benches and trash receptacles.

The project added a dozen paved parking stalls to replace what had been a steep gravel lot – and a lot more:

• A new promenade built to Americans with Disabilities Act standards
• A concrete path connecting the lot and promenade
• Landscaping
• Picnic tables
• Benches
• Trash receptacles
• And an ornamental fence around the U.S. Coast Guard lighthouse, replacing the old chain link fencing.

All in all, the upgrades give visitors safe, all-season access down to the beach.

The project was funded by the voter-approved 2014 and 2005 capital improvement bonds.

Browns Point Lighthouse Park Development Plan

Parks Tacoma does not have an ownership position in the two lots to the south of the Lighthouse property that the Brown’s Point Improvement Club is on. The Browns Point Improvement Club only allows their parking lots to be used for BPIC events.

The Browns Point Light House Park “Adopt a Park” partnership between Points Northeast Historical Society and Parks Tacoma was established in October 2000.

Building Improvements

The nonprofit community group Points Northeast Historical Society restored the buildings at Browns Point Lighthouse Park. They’ve been very successful in securing grants, and are working to complete the project. Read more about the Lighthouse renovation.

Tours & Overnight Rentals

The nonprofit community group Points Northeast Historical Society offers tours of the the buildings at Browns Point Lighthouse Park and overnight rentals of the 3-bedroom historic Light Keeper’s Cottage. Click here for more information.