Its walls consist of fieldstone, its observation deck references the Grand River Trail along which the pioneers travelled, and the roof is topped by a weather vane in the shape of a Conestoga wagon.

Among the first of the immigrants were Samuel Betzner and Joseph Schörg or Schoerg (later called Sherk),[note 1] who had travelled more than 700 kilometres (430 mi) over 10 weeks in a Conestoga wagon.

[5] The farmsteads built by the next generation of these families still stand, on what is now Pioneer Tower Road in an area often called Doon; the John Betzner and David Schoerg homesteads were erected circa 1830.

[9] Supporters of the name change had taken several actions to ensure its success, including having opponents declared aliens, and intimidation tactics to prevent organization of an opposition movement, to deter them from casting a ballot, and from sending sufficient scrutineers to the polls.

[13] In the months leading up to the referendum, there was "violence, riots and intimidation, often instigated by imperialistic members" of the 118th (North Waterloo) Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

[14] Blood, a "fearless and fearsome leader",[15] led members of the Battalion in a riot within the city, an act he defended by stating "I have been trained to destroy everything of military advantage to the enemy".

[9] On 28 June 1916, a second referendum was held to choose the new name of the city, which the Berlin News Record described by stating that the "outstanding feature was the absolute indifference displayed by the ratepayers".

[3] The tower was conceived by William Henry Breithaupt,[19] president of the association,[18] who wanted to commemorate the Mennonites who had moved to the area (and also the first farmers of Waterloo Region), and to heal the wounds of earlier nationalism that led to the city's name change.

[19] The tower commemorates the settlement by the Pennsylvania Dutch (actually Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch or German)[23] of the Grand River area in what later became Waterloo County, Ontario.

[3] The design of the observation deck integrates references to true north, and the Grand River Trail along which the first immigrants travelled to settle the area.