SOUTH PORTLAND – A lighthouse at the entrance to Portland Harbor is shining again after a 60-year hiatus.

About 200 people gathered Wednesday to witness the relighting of the 1875 lighthouse formally known as Portland Breakwater Lighthouse. It’s known as Bug Light to local residents.

The lighthouse was turned off 60 years ago, for security reasons during World War II, and had been dark since.

A restoration effort began in 1989, and the local Rotary Club learned last year that relighting Bug Light was possible. It is now run by a solar-powered battery and flashes every four seconds.

Coast Guard Sr. Chief Thomas Dutton was given the honor of turning on the solar-powered beacon. The white light is run by a solar-powered battery, and at night it will flash every four seconds.

Dutton played a key role in getting the lighthouse turned back on. He helped connect supporters of Bug Light with Coast Guard officials in Boston.

The recommissioning of the lighthouse is regarded as the highlight of the Rotary’s restoration project. The Rotary has raised more than $17,000 to fix up the lighthouse and Bug Light Park.

Wednesday’s ceremony attracted lighthouse fans of all ages, but for some, seeing light return to Bug Light was a personal event.

Debbie Conley of Cape Elizabeth said her great-grandfather William T. Holbrook lived in a keeper’s house that was connected to the lighthouse. Her father and uncle were born and raised at Bug Light.

“My father was very proud of this light,” she said. “It looks much better now.”

Bug Light was built 127 years ago to replace an 1855 wooden lighthouse atop the Portland Breakwater.

While the larger Spring Point Light, which was built four years later, could have replaced Bug Light, the smaller beacon remained in operation until 1942, when all of the region’s lighthouses went dark for wartime security.

Bug Light was sold by the federal government after the war and given to South Portland in 1985. The city bought the adjacent 14-acre Bug Light Park in 1996 and completed improvements in 1998.