The gate was once part of Lahore's city walls, which were torn down by the British after the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. The gate itself was also destroyed by the British, but was reconstructed in the 19th century under the British Raj. Following the Partition of British India, the gate housed a girls' school. The gate is mentioned by Rudyard Kipling in his 1891 short story "The City of Dreadful Night." Lahore's famous Zamzama Gun was originally placed at Delhi Gate, but was relocated by the British to a site in front of the Lahore Museum.