Ontario War Memorials: Metcalfe

Sunday 9 February 2020

Metcalfe

Location: City of Ottawa
GPS: N 45.236607 W 75.471380

8243 Victoria St.

Founded in 1827 and originally called Hawley's Corner's, Metcalfe ON, named after Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, Governor General of Canada from 1843-1846 was a stop on the stagecoach route from Bytown (Ottawa) to Cornwall. Later, the village of Metcalfe was then by-passed by the construction of railway lines to Cornwall.

Metcalfe ON, formerly in Osgoode Township, now part of Ottawa since the amalgamation, has a cenotaph honouring and remembering its local heroes, that consists of two stele and a flag in a front courtyard located on the right side of what used to be the former town hall, which now houses City of Ottawa Client Services, Metcalfe Branch.

Dedicated to the fallen soldiers of WWI from of the area, the left stele was erected by the Metcalfe Red Cross Society and the citizens of Osgoode Township in 1921. There appear two types of lettering on the left cenotaph. (One type seems to be made with (lead letters ? or maybe different kind of lettering) and engraved which were added on later.) The right stele, honouring those who fell during WWII, also erected by the citizens of Osgoode Township, was dedicated in 1950.

Both monuments were renovated in 2012 through "Fallen but not forgotten" initiative, a 6 month project to raise funds for the renovation of both memorials. From the funds collected, a missing letter was added to a name, a new sub-base on the WWI monument and 4 omitted soldiers names were added.

***Thanks to Louise Bellec for the photos and description.