In 1888, Paisley Village Council was arguing whether or not to spend more money on its effort to establish a waterworks system for a fire department that could protect the young community. They decided to go ahead when the main street of a neighbouring village burned to the ground—they had no fire protection.  Soon afterwards, Paisley signed a contract for the pump house, steam engine, well, water pipes and 180 meters of hose that would serve its own fire department.  The hose tower, used to dry the heavy burlap hoses that were taken around the village on hand-operated reels, was built a few years later in 1890.

J.D. Strachan Construction Limited completed the restoration of this project in 1995 with Taylor/Hazell Architects.  In order to provide new poured concrete foundations, entire sections of the original tower were removed by crane. The timber windows and sheathing was restored and new pressed metal siding installed on the entire tower.  Ornate woodwork around the windows and doors was restored as was the original timber frame. The finished tower was then hoisted back onto the new foundation.