Stouffville moving cenotaph back to Memorial Park

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 12, 2023

Stouffville is moving the cenotaph back to Memorial Park along with demilitarized Leopard tank from the Department of National Defence.

Over the years, the town’s memorials and cenotaphs have been relocated from Memorial Park to Civic Square, to the former legion location on Ninth Line and then to its present location on Mostar Street at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch. Now the cenotaph is returning to the park. The cost of the relocation and development of a new memorial area is estimated to be between $245,000 and $400,000.

The origin of Memorial Park came around 1921, when Sir William Mulock and Sir Henry Pellatt came to Stouffville to support the dedication ceremony for the unveiling of the original cairn to honour the memory of the enlisted of Whitchurch who had lost their lives in the First World War.

According to a staff report, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the legion was met with significant challenges and almost closed, nearly leaving the town’s cenotaph without a home. Through an open discussion, it was decided that Branch #459 would approach the town and request the cenotaph be relocated to Memorial Park.

The cenotaph will become part of a larger memorial that will incorporate elements of the remembrance pillars with the names of fallen soldiers from Whitchurch-Stouffville, and the plaque dedicated to Captain Arthur Roy Brown at the entrance. In addition, through the Department of National Defence, the town and the legion have the opportunity to receive a donation of a Leopard tank at no cost to the town that will form a new, larger memorial area.

The town is deciding between two sites: one located north of Burkholder Street and Park Drive near the pavilion, and the other located at the southeast corner of Booth Drive and Park Drive.