The old name Rösselsberg is derived from the Gasthof Zum Roß in Friedland, which was located at the foot of the mountain. From 1784 onwards, Michael Jäkel laid out the suburb of Jäkelsthal, named after him, on the northern flank of the Rösselsberg.
At the end of the 19th century, the Friedland Beautification Association had a 14 m high wooden observation tower built on the Rösselsberg, which was inaugurated on June 6, 1890. The structure, built by Friedland master carpenter Josef Haupt, was not built directly on the highest point of the mountain, but to the southwest of it. This point offered a good view of the town of Friedland, the valleys of the Wittig and Rasnitz and the mountains of the Jizera Mountains. After 15 years, the tower was in such poor condition due to weather influences that it had to be demolished in the spring of 1906.
On May 17, 1906, the foundation stone was laid for a new, 21 m high observation tower. This was built by the company Appel & Hampel as a brick building with granite blocks. The local builder Anton Dreßler contributed 1,000 crowns to the construction costs of almost 9,000 crowns. On April 30, 1907, the new tower with an excursion restaurant, known as Dreßler-Höhe, opened. During the German occupation, the tower was transferred to the German Mountain Association for the Jeschken and Jizera Mountains on May 2, 1940.
After the end of the Second World War, the mountain restaurant was stopped. The tower was still accessible, but no maintenance work was carried out. In 1958, the tower was repaired in connection with the construction of a local television converter on the observation floor, but as a result it was no longer accessible to the public. The former restaurant building was converted into an air navigation station. After a new transmission tower was built in steel construction for the Frýdlant television converter in 1979, the municipal national committee transferred the tower with the dilapidated building to the ownership of the sports club TJ Slovan Frýdlant in 1980. On November 6, 1982, the association made the observation tower open to the public again.
In 1992, the českých turistů club turistů Frýdlant (KTF), which is affiliated with the českých turistů club, concluded a long-term lease agreement for the U rozhledny site with TJ Slovan Frýdlant. The old building was reopened as a buffet.