[2] During the 1880s Sir Sandford Fleming, famous for introducing standard time to North America, established a summer retreat on property fronting Halifax's Northwest Arm, after he finished constructing the Intercolonial Railway.

In 1908, Fleming donated the property to the citizens of Halifax for use as a park and proposed the construction of a tower within it to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the establishment of representative government in Nova Scotia, the province having held on 2 October 1758 the first elected assembly in what is now Canada.

Designed by the architects Sidney Dumaresq and Andrew Cobb,[5][6] the tower stands out as a rare form of architectural expression in the pre-World War I period of rising Canadian nationalism and fervent loyalty to the British Empire.

[7] The ten-storey stone "Dingle Memorial Tower" plan was accepted by the City of Halifax and the local Canadian Club undertook a fundraising drive to pay for construction.

It was formally dedicated in an impressive ceremony in August 1912 by Canada's Governor General the Duke of Connaught who was also Queen Victoria's son Prince Arthur.

Designed by British sculptor Albert Bruce-Joy, they are similar to Sir Edwin Landseer's lions at Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square.