Construction of the tower began in 1898 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's landing in Newfoundland, and Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

In 1901, Guglielmo Marconi received the first trans-Atlantic wireless message at a position near the tower, the letter "S" in Morse Code sent from Poldhu, Cornwall, United Kingdom.

There was a mast at the highest point on the hill, and it would be the job of a signalman to keep an eye out for ships approaching the city.

Located at the highest point of Signal Hill, overlooking the city and the ocean, Cabot Tower is an example of late-Gothic Revival style.

On the main body of the building, at the top of the second storey level, is a line of repeating pattern like an exaggerated dentil row or inverted crenelations.

The windows on both the corner turret and the body of the tower proper are rectangular and set under heavy stone lintels.