The Montebello Park Pavillion was once the estate of William Hamilton Merritt: entrepreneur, statesman and founder of the Welland Canal. Having only completed the house foundations when he died, the City of St. Catharines acquired the 6.5 acres of land bounded by Ontario, Queen, Lake and Midland Streets from his son, Thomas Rodman Merritt in 1887.

The Pavilion was built on the foundations of Merritt's unfinished house. The original bandstand was replaced in 1904 with the current separate structure, based on the acoustical theories of the times, as demonstrated by a similar structure constructed at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY.

Frederick Law Olmstead – the American landscape architect most noted for Central Park in Manhattan – was retained by the city in 1887 to design the park. While the curving walkways and terrace treatment around the shelter are typical of his work, whether Olmstead had any direct involvement beyond the conceptual layout of the park is unknown. A condition assessment in 2000 reviewed the structural and architectural components and established a budget for remediation. Today the downtown park is home to one of the largest rose gardens in the Niagara Peninsula.