I think most of the early ones on the east coast started out white. I know Montauk (Shinnecock was red brick,Fire Island B&W), and a lot of the NC towers lights did too. Then bands, diamonds, swirls etc were added to help sailors diferrentiate one from the other as DayMarkers.I'm sure I heard that story many times as Dave said.
The red up North in the snow areas makes a lot of sense.