The Kabelvåg Town Square has an old history rich in tradition in one of the oldest towns in Northern Norway. Already in the town development plan for 1887, the town square was clearly defined with direct access to the harbour and surrounded by streets in a grid-work pattern. However throughout the 20th century, Kabelvåg lost its significance as the main harbour providing profits for the town Svolvær. The town lost its markets, and the town square, which had been a life nerve, was used as a car park. A once lively town was left deserted and abandoned, with its back facing the town and a lone music pavilion in the eastern corner.

As a result of large fires that occurred in 1991 and 1992, a large, voluntary communal work project went underway in Kabelvåg. In this process of revitalisation, where the citizens of Kabelvåg took an active part, there were set conditions for the new development of the town. Firstly, it was stipulated that the town square be reverted back to a place for gathering. Secondly, the cars were to be removed and replaced with boats. Thirdly, the old pavilion was to mark the town square as a place for people and culture.

In order to reinstate this central community in Lofoten with boating activity and the sound of lapping waves, a re-dredged canal was opened. This idea had already been proposed in an architecture competition in 1984, won by the Tromsø architects John Kristoffersen, Petter Bakke and Lars Krane, all civil architects MNAL. At this opening, the town square now had an axis from the harbour leading in to the town.