The gates, now located at the Beach Drive entrance to Willows Park, were originally part of the garden landscape at 1931 Bowker Place, home of the Bowker Family.

The property, known as Oak Bay Farm was the home of John Sylvester and Mary Tod Bowker - a wedding gift from Mary's father, John Tod. The land was part of John Tod's 200 acre holding, purchased from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1851.

A row of Austrian pines, still lining the 1900 block of Oak Bay and remnants of the granite wall, define the western boundary of the original estate. While not on their original site, the gates still define the area of Oak Bay Farm and relate historically to the Tod and Bowker Family's residence in Oak Bay.

Samuel Maclure designed the gates in 1913, as part of a major renovation and landscaping scheme for the Bowker farmhouse, commissioned by John Sylvester Bowker Jr. The iron entrance gates and stone piers were moved to their present location when the property was later subdivided in 1932.