The shape of Gore Park was determined in the following manner: George Hamilton, founder of the town of Hamilton, owned land on the south side of King Street and Nathaniel Hughson was the proprietor of land on the North side of King Street. Both agreed to present land to the town of Hamilton to serve as a public square. George Hamilton keeping his promise, gave a piece of land which was cut on the bias, while Hughson failed to present his part. The land donated by Hamilton came to be known as the "Gore" and was dedicated to the city in perpetuity as a public square.

From 1815-1850, the Gore remained an undeveloped and unsightly open space whose predominant function served as a parking area for farmers selling wood and grain as well as acting as a refuse heap. In 1833, a proposal was made to transform the Gore into a market place. George Hamilton launched a lawsuit to stop the Town Council from taking this donated land. Again in 1847 during a province wide economic slump, the Council, worried about their finances, considered selling the Gore for development. Robert Jarvis Hamilton, George Hamilton’s son, upon hearing of the plan for the development of the Gore, reasserted his rights to the land. A committee was created to determine who held legal rights to the land. In the end an agreement was reached whereby the City of Hamilton would split the area and oversee the construction of buildings. Robert Hamilton received 2,000 pounds for waiving his rights to the city’s land. The citizens of the city were discontented and protested and complained in response to the planned subdivision of the Gore into building lots. In 1859, the Gore was transformed into Gore Park, satisfying the initial intended land use.

Preparation for the First Royal visit called for the improvement and beautification of Gore Park, which was to include the construction of a new fountain. In addition, the fountain was of importance within a historical context as it was erected along with a system of waterlines that were built to provide a safe supply of water to the city’s residents. Without a supply of safe, pure, and fresh water the population was at constant risk of epidemic. This water system would also provide the needed water for the fountain.

It was decided that a contest would be held to determine the most efficient engineering solution to the problem of water supply in the City of Hamilton. There was a prize of ten thousand dollars to be won. The winning design, although never implemented, proposed that water from Lake Medad be used. Instead, the first water system for the City of Hamilton was based on the natural filtering of water from Lake Ontario through sand into larger pits where it was pumped into a system of pipes and into a reservoir. To celebrate this ground breaking engineering achievement, and for the city’s first Royal visit, a fountain was erected in the city centre, Gore Park.

The beautification of the park, including the construction and installation of the fountain was completed in the early spring of 1860. The fountain was "a symbol of the city representing the public spirit of citizens who wished to make their community’s commercial core a place of beauty as well as a place of commerce." The fountain consisted of two shallow bowl-shaped cups, the upper bowl being smaller in size than the lower bowl, and a spire. The Victorian fountain stood approximately twenty-five feet high. The fountain was dedicated in September 1860 by Edward Prince of Wales.

The original fountain of Gore Park, at the age of 99 years was condemned as unsafe, disassembled and carted away in 1959 to make room for a new fountain donated by the Association of Kinsmen Clubs of Canada at a cost of $10,000. The fountain, consisting of three separate saucer-shaped bowls, each measuring eighteen feet in diameter, was dedicated to the memory of the eleven original members of the Kinsmen Clubs in Hamilton. It was promised by both the Kinsmen and the City that the fountain would operate year round and that coloured tiles and multi-coloured illuminations would lend rainbow tints to the fountain spray. The Hamilton Downtown Association was responsible for arranging the coloured lighting while a group of Hamilton industries donated several hundred gallons of liquid that would not freeze. The Kinsmen statue was installed on November 27, 1960.

In the summer prior to the installation of the Kinsmen fountains, a cheque for the amount of two hundred dollars arrived at the offices of the Spectator in trust strictly for the rehabilitation of the former Gore fountain. Whether an omen or mere coincidence, the timely arrival of this cheque seemed to foreshadow the fate of the Kinsmen fountain.

Within two months of being erected, the fountain came under criticism. According to public criticism as printed in the Spectator (June 13, 1963), the saucer-fountains had been referred to as "flying saucers", "gravy bowls", and "pie-dishes". Contrary to the promise made by the Kinsmen, the fountains did not work efficiently and at most times were dry. One gentleman alluded to the fact that his garden hose could do a better job than the fountain.

What became of the old Victorian fountain of Gore Park? The main bowl of the fountain and the base had been demolished as they could not be saved. A small item which appeared in the 1959 report of the Board of Park Management stated that "the top section of the fountain was found to be in good condition and is now in storage awaiting a suitable location where it will be re-erected." It was further suggested that "perhaps a bottom part could be fashioned for it so that it could be restored in some way reminiscent of the old landmark erected in the Gore just 100 years ago." (Spectator, May 12, 1960).

This is exactly what happened. When Josephine Hyslop (a private citizen) died, she left three thousand dollars to the Parks Board to erect a fountain in memory of her late son Edward. In 1964, the Park’s Board built a large stone basin and concrete pillar mounting the ornate dish that once topped the old Gore fountain on the new fountain. This new fountain was located at the Delta.

In the late 1960s it was decided that Gore Park, once again, needed a complete facelift. Again, the central focus of the refurbished park was a new fountain to replace the failed Kinsmen fountain. The new fountain consisted of an oval bowl with a twenty-five foot spray in the middle surrounded by many smaller jets. There were forty-four lights that went through fourteen colour combinations. The total cost of the facelift, including the price of the new fountain was tagged at $135,000. This new fountain came to be described as "a miniature Niagara Falls for Downtown Hamilton". This fountain was erected in 1970.

In 1971, the Gore Park fountain faced sea of suds. During the night, a group of individuals had placed washing powder into the fountain which resulted in the creation of immense amounts of suds in the fountain water. The fountain was not damaged. The "washing-powder-in-the-fountain trick" was not a new prank.

In the early 1990s the Head-Of-The-Lake Historical Society called for the recreation and reinstallation of the original Gore Park Fountain to mark the City of Hamilton’s Sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary which was to occur in 1996. A group of people belonging to the Head-Of-The-Lake Historical Society formed the Fountain Foundation through the Society. The foundation, led by Dennis Misset and a group of volunteers pushed to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a copy of the Victorian original. The estimated cost of this desired project was $525,000. According to Mr. Ray Harris, fundraising chairman: "We are going to raise it totally from private funds. We have the full backing of the City Council. This is going to be the jewel in the crown of downtown regeneration."

Expert accounting was volunteered by Mark Walters of Price Waterhouse and a landscape architect, William Fraser volunteered to design the renewed Victorian theme of the Park to complement the fountain. Special help was also provided by Jack MacDonald and Ray Harris. Archie McCoy, the owner of the Flamborough Foundry responsible for constructing the massive cast iron monument estimated that the replica fountain weighed over twenty-five tons and was over twenty-five feet high. The upper bowl and spire saved from the original fountain were added. In addition, there were twelve lights, one fifteen-horse power engine, and twenty-four jets of water functioning at three different auto-adjusting settings: low, medium and high.

The City of Hamilton was now faced with a quandry: where would the home for the new fountain be located? In the days of the original fountain, the park extended from James Street to Hughson Street. In 1860, the then new fountain was placed in the centre of the park. Today the park extends from Hughson Street east of John Street making Hughson street the centre of the park. It was now that the City met with the location debate. Many proposals were put forth. Some preferred the fountain to be placed in the original site while others proposed a location in the middle of Hughson Street which would be closed to traffic, extending the park to John Street. This new location would have cost the city $200,000 more than placing the fountain in the original site. On March 29,1995, the City Council voted 7-2 in favor of placing the replica between James and Hughson, returning it to its original home.