 According to Waldos "History of Bridgeport and Vicinity, Volume 1", Abraham A. McNeil first set a light atop a mast to mark the Bridgeport Harbor in 1844.The next day Captain John Brooks Jr. set up his own improvised light with another boat.Constructed in 1851, the first Bridgeport Harbor Light was an octagonal tower on a box-like structure stood on iron piles.