The site was made available by the local landowner, John Stratford Handcock of Carrowntryla House, on a leasehold basis at a nominal rent.

It was designed by James Joseph Boylan in the neoclassical style, built by Andrew Egan in coursed limestone and was completed in 1857.

Additional plaques were installed, in 1998, to commemorate the life of the Christian socialist and philanthropist Robert Malachy Burke, following his death that year, as well as the life of the locally born soldier, Major Richard W. Dowling, who led the Confederate troops to victory at the Second Battle of Sabine Pass during the American Civil War.

A fourth plaque, intended to commemorate the lives of local service personnel who had died all wars, foreign and domestic, was installed in 2013.

Nobody seconded the motion; a Fianna Fáil councillor said the plaque commemorated Dowling's business career and Tuam had "more important things going on".