At midnight on 31 March 1998, the Northern Lighthouse Board switched the last three of its manned lighthouses - Butt of Lewis, Fair Isle and North Ronaldsay - to a remotely monitored, fully automated, system. For the Butt this ended 136 years of continuous residence by successive generations of light-keepers and their families.

The Lighthouse was designed and built by David and Thomas Stevenson, prolific engineers to the Northern Lighthouse Board. In June 1859, the quotation submitted by John Barr & Co of Ardrossan, amounting to £4,900, was accepted, but it was quite late into the year before Barr's could get their plant forwarded to the island. The vessel containing part of the contractor's property was wrecked while attempting to land its cargo and this resulted in the masonry works being postponed until the Spring of 1860.

The lighthouse was first lit in 1862, following difficult and lengthy negotiations between the Lighthouse Board and staff at the Board of Trade over whether the light should be fixed or flashing. While the Stevensons and the Commissioners favoured a flashing light, they were over-ruled by the Department of Trade, who insisted on "a fixed light of the first order." A flashing light was not installed until 1903.

The lighthouse tower, which is 37 m (121 ft) tall and a Category A Listed Building, was not just a source of reassurance for passing ships but also latterly acted as a highly sophisticated data-gathering centre. Up until automation, the keepers recorded detailed weather data every hour for onward transmission to the Meteorological Office. The Station's claim to fame, according to the "Guinness Book of Records", is that it was the windiest spot in the United Kingdom.

Up until the early 1960s, all supplies were delivered by sea because of the poor road system on the island. At the nearby Port Stoth, small cargo vessels would regularly berth, weather permitting, to discharge provisions for the lighthouse station. All that remains today of this docking area is some timber and metal steps, the concrete base on which the crane was mounted, and a red-brick building (in the same brick as the lighthouse) which was used as a store by the Board.