We should be very proud to have such a magnificent piece of public art in our city square. It was designed by an important Canadian sculptor, George William Hill. For instance in Ottawa, G.W. Hill did the Thomas D'Arcy McGee and the George Brown monuments. Our monument was unveiled on July16, 1925.

Discussions about the Soldiers' Memorial took a long time. They started of thinking about a building; a home for veterans, a library etc. They even gave a lot of thought to it being a wing to the north of Province House going back as far as Grafton Street. Plans had been prepared by Mr. Chappelle. Then our friend R. T. Holman of Summerside suggested a highway to be called Victory Highway! There was talk of a grand arch. There were other suggested designs for monuments some quite grandiose. The debate continued for over four years.

Wisdom prevailed and we didn't get the arch or the gross wing to Province House, but we did get G. W. Hill with 20 tons of Stanstead [sic] granite from Quebec and soldiers casted in bronze in Brussels. It seems to have cost $16,000 dollars; less than it cost to repair the stone and clean the bronze last year.

Now we must address the Boer War Monument on the south east side of Province House. It is a fine monument, too and it needs cleaning. The sculptor for it is prominent as well. Hamilton McCarthy, a British sculptor who had settled in Canada was one of the two artists for The Alexander MacKenzie monument on Parliament Hill, and he himself did the South African War Monument in Ottawa and that wonderful piece on top of the hill, near the Art Gallery, of Samuel de Champlain.

Although our piece of sculpture was not as grand as we had hoped for its pretty nice. On that July day in 1903 when it was unveiled what was lost in stature [so to speak] was made up for by the numbers that attended and "by the order, precision and dignity " of the event.