It was built near the Delaware River waterfront at Front and Carpenter Streets, just west of Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church.

Supplies of lead shot were imported from Europe before the Embargo Act of 1807.

Plumbers Thomas Sparks, John Bishop, and James Clement built the tower to take advantage of the limited available supply.

Shot towers work on the principle that molten lead forms perfectly round balls when poured from a high place.

Four generations of the Sparks family owned the tower until 1903, when they sold it to the United Lead Company of Pennsylvania.