Fort Hill was the second highest hill in Boston, housing a gun fortification near the harbor named the South Battery.
The South Battery and other defenses were built in the middle of the 17th century. The South Battery was expanded in the 1740s, but fell out of use by the 1760s.
Members of the Continental Army rebuilt the fort during the American Revolutionary War, but both the Fort and South Battery were dismantled before the start of the 19th century. The hill itself was later leveled in the 1860s.