The Fort Mississauga Tower is located at the Fort Mississauga National Historic Site of Canada, which also includes the Powder Magazines. The Fort was constructed as a counterpoint to Fort Niagara on the opposite shore of the river, and to guard the strategically sensitive mouth of the Niagara River. It remained in active military use through subsequent rebellions and World War I. The site overlaps with that of the Mississauga Point Lighthouse National Historic Site of Canada, which saw the first lighthouse constructed on the Great Lakes, in 1804. The former lighthouse was demolished in 1814, during the construction of Fort Mississauga, with its materials possibly having been incorporated into the Tower. The site is situated in the middle of the present-day Niagara-on-the-Lake Golf Course, where it is visible to golfers and accessible to visitors. Though visited far less frequently by tourists than nearby Fort George, it is well known to locals.