Memorial Park Cenotaph Statue

A city block bounded by Fraser, First, Ferguson, and Second became the site of the North Bay Normal School, which opened in 1909 and still stands on the corner of First and Fraser. In 1917, the province deeded the rest of the tract for use as Memorial Park in honor of those who gave their lives in World War I. Nearly 2400 local people served in the Great War, and although a war memorial was first proposed for Terrace Lawn Cemetery, the Normal School park was selected in June 1922. The Agriculture and Parks Committee of Council, with input from local schoolchildren and sculptor Harold French, helped develop the design. Public subscriptions, town council grants, a house-to-house canvass by the Ladies Auxiliary of the Great War Veteran's Association, and funds gathered by a Soldiers Memorial Committee raised more than $15,000 for the monument. Crafted by Canadian sculptor C.D. McKenzie of Toronto, the 2000-pound monument was at the time the largest bronze monument cast in Canada, rising 26'6" from base to statue top, with an 8'6" statue of a Canadian soldier standing on about 60 tonnes of granite. The soldier was conceived as an everyman figure with no rank or unit identification, holding a laurel wreath and resting it on a cemetery marker with one hand while holding his helmet over his heart with the other. Its base bears a North Bay dedication and the names of important First World War battles. Andrew Craig of North Bay and McIntosh Granite of Toronto served as contractors. On September 17th 1922, the monument was officially unveiled in a well-attended ceremony that included Lieutenant-Governor Henry Cockshutt, Mayor John Ferguson, local dignitaries, military participants, cadets, scouts, and club representatives, and in November the first official Armistice Day ceremony was held there. In 1923, agreements between municipal and provincial governments formally created and named Memorial Park, and the November ceremony that year drew about 4,000 citizens, including about 100 veterans and the Salvation Army Band. Memorial Park remained a major civic gathering place, especially during North Bay's 1925 Old Home Week celebrations. Branch 23 of the Royal Canadian Legion received its charter in 1926, later opening a new Legion Hall beside the Normal School in 1987. In 1975, the Legion installed an Honour Wall for veterans of the two world wars, designed by former soldier and City Recreation Director Sam Jacks. In the mid-1990s, veterans formed Project Flanders to commemorate all who served, raising more than $700,000 to build the Wall of Honour. Composed of 14 seven-foot-high granite walls weighing up to 6 tons each, it is the largest municipal war memorial in Canada. The bilingual Wall of Honour recognizes each of the seven wars and United Nations and NATO missions of the 20th century, including the First and Second World Wars and the Korean and Vietnam Wars. It bears the names of 636 war dead from 8850 area personnel who served in the Canadian Forces, and at the rear of the 95-foot-wide wall stand more than 700 commemorative stones honoring veterans who survived the wars.

Ontario · Canada