Construction on the George Washington Bridge, immediately above the lighthouse, started in 1927. When the George Washington Bridge was completed in 1931, the lighthouse was considered to be obsoleted by the bridge's navigational lights, and the Coast Guard decommissioned it and put out its light in 1948, with the intention of auctioning it off. The proposed dismantling of the lighthouse resulted in a public outcry, largely from children who were fans of the 1942 children's book, "The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge", by Hildegarde Swift. This led to the Coast Guard deeding the lighthouse to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation on July 23, 1951.