Bickford Tower was erected in 1901 as a signaling tower for naval visual communication. It was built at an estimated cost of $8,288, and designed by the Royal Navy’s Officer in Charge of Works, T. Woodgate. The tower bears the name of Admiral Andrew Kennedy Bickford, who commanded Britain’s Pacific base at Esquimalt.
The tower was among the last of Britain’s Imperial defence works in Canada before they withdrew their naval units in 1905, making way for the Royal Canadian Navy, which assumed control in 1910. The tower is a four-story octagonal brick structure of 1184 square feet and is 50 feet tall. The first floor was the men’s mess room, an officer's room was on the second floor and up the stairs was a men’s room. The stairs continued on up to the signal room. On the platform were both a flagpole and a semaphore.
Two years after its construction, the tower became obsolete due to the introduction of a military telephone system. The building was later used as a theodolite station for ship weapons alignment and a site for electronic instrumentation.