In the mid 1800s, as steamships travelled between the New World and Europe, the Strait of Belle Isle became part of an increasingly important trans-Atlantic shipping route. However, due to its narrow form, with corresponding ice flows and strong currents, it was also a more dangerous passageway.

To allow for safer navigation along this route, the Province of Canada built four coastal lighthouses in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Strait of Belle Isle regions during the 1850's. One of these four navigational tools became the Point Amour Lighthouse, along with that of the West Point Anticosti, Belle Isle, and Cap des Rosiers (representative of the tallest in Canada at 112 feet).