The tower is a replica based on an early 19th century drawing of one that stood on Point Henry, Kingston, where Fort Henry now stands. The Kingston tower was built in 1813 by Captain Viger of the Voltigeurs Regiment. They were meant to be a system of visual telegraph signal towers for relaying important military messages up and down the St. Lawrence. Only a few around Quebec City and Kingston were ever built since the electric telegraph soon made them obsolete. The present replica, built in 2002, is a replacement of the 1963 one that was dismantled for safety reasons.