Hidden Histories SASKATOON’S GREAT WAR MEMORIALS A Collaborative Project between the City of Saskatoon and By Eric Story the University of Saskatchewan Community Engaged-History Collaboratorium UofS Faculty Supervisor – Dr. Keith Carlson City of Saskatoon Supervisor – Kevin Kitchen “Hidden Histories” tells the stories of these pieces of art, yet it also speaks to Saskatoon’s collective story. Although these memorials remain rooted in one specific place in the city, the stories behind these memorials are not. As the memorials grow older, new generations tell new stories about them, some based in fact, others in myth. Like tales passed from an aging grandfather to Top of the Hugh Cairns Memorial Photo by Eric Story his grandson, they change INTRODUCTION “Hidden Histories . as they are passed along, speaks of Saskatoon’s shaped by the generations story.” who inherit these stories. And so here is my chance ave you ever walked toon enlisted, 5,602 men signed to tell our generation’s story down the street and up in the city, many travelling from about the memorials. I have Hwondered, “What is neighbouring communities to ac- tried to give voice to the that statue for?” or “Why is quire a uniform and fight for king individual, and less to the that there?”? This magazine, and country. stones that commemorate them. I hope I have done “Hidden Histories: Saska- By the time the Armistice was them justice. toon’s Great War Memori- declared on 11 November 1918, als,” provides answers to a Saskatoon had undergone a pro- few of these questions. found transformation. The four- “Hidden Histories” is a year long conflict brought about seven-essay compilation heated ethnic divides, prohibition, of Saskatoon’s memory of women’s suffrage, and, of course, the First World War. Fought death and mourning. Beginning between 1914 and 1918, in 1920, the community began the Great War had a deep to mark the war with public art in impact on the community of order to remember the war and Saskatoon. Although it is un- commemorate the men who had clear how many from Saska- fallen. I 1 CONTENTS “This memorial is a living thing”: The University of Saskatchewan Memorial Gates 1 ach age has left me- The Story of the Saskatoon Cenotaph 3 E morials of what they thought worthy of honour and reverence. The pyr- The University of Saskatchewan’s Memorial Rib- amids of Egypt, the tem- bons 8 School Spirit: The Nutana Collegiate Memorial Art Gallery 12 “How our fate was changed and by whose hand”: 8 The University of Saskatchewan’s 46th Battalion Stone 17 ples of Greece, the Cathe- drals of the Middle Ages The Hugh Cairns Memorial 19 . reveal and reflect the highest and best of the thoughts of their time. Talmage Lawson and the Star-Phoenix Clock 24 12 This age will be judged by the memorials which it has left of the services of its sons and daughters. Walter Murray, 1928 II “This memorial is a living thing” The University of Saskatchewan Memorial Gates uilding a campus memorial a nervous breakdown, resulting in was not a foregone con- an extended leave from the uni- clusion following the Great versity for five months. By 1921, War. Delays immediately Murray still had not made a deci- after the war, and financial diffi- sion about the form the memorial culties left the university with a would take. & Special Collections University ofArchives Saskatchewan difficult decision. Were they able to erect a suitable memorial? In May 1923, Murray began to correspond with the university’s Nineteen eighteen was not original architect, David R. Brown, easy for the University of Sas- about a campus memorial. He katchewan. President Walter had remained in communication Murray called it the university’s with Brown since the university “most trying” year. Twenty-four U opened in 1909. Subsequently, of S soldiers were killed on the in 1926, a Memorial Committee battlefields. And in October, cam- was appointed to “look into the pus was quarantined as a result of matter of a suitable Memorial to be the Spanish Influenza Epidemic, erected on University grounds, in General J.F.L. Embury continuing to rattle the commemoration of institution to its very those Professors and a tangible sign of the communi- foundations. Students who served ty’s determination to remember in the Great War.” the fallen and, by extension, the Despite the A-5542 & Special Collections, University ofArchives Saskatchewan They decided that values for which they died.” In the adversity the univer- the most suitable case of the U of S, this memorial sity faced, President form of a memorial project would be one undertaken Murray believed it would take the by the entire campus community, imperative that the shape of Memo- whether one was a student, staff U of S boys who rial Gates. Brown member or alumni. Past and pres- fell overseas were would be the ent members of the U of S would remembered for builder. all lend a hand in the construction generations to come. of the Memorial Gates. And so, beginning in In order to pay for August 1918, he wrote the construction of But a memorial was still prema- to various compa- President Walter Murray, the Memorial Gates, ture. In September 1924, Murray nies, enquiring about c. 1935 the Memorial Commit- corresponded once more with his the costs of a memo- tee began a fundraising architect, Brown. In a rather casu- rial plaque or tablet. But he was campaign. A $10,000 goal was al letter, he reads more matter of delayed. Between 1919 and 1920, set, and alumni were targeted. As fact than concerned: “The gates the university entered a period of historian Jonathon Vance points must wait until times are better,” crisis, when Murray was accused out, the construction of a memorial he wrote. The U of S had run into of falsifying a financial report given “stood as public affirmation of the some financial difficulties. The to a M.L.A. Although the charges people’s desire to keep the faith: construction of the gates would were proven untrue, Murray had the erection of a memorial was have to be postponed. 1 In 1927, fundraising had also As for future generations, Em- reached a standstill. By February, bury said, current students had donated “. the gates will serve as a $1,000 to the Memorial Fund, but reminder of the greatest war in still, only $5,000 total had been history and of the triumph to which received by the Memorial Com- Photo from it ended. It will keep alive their mittee. The Committee Chair and Canada and the Great World War World and the Great Canada love of their native land and will past mayor of Saskatoon, Howard probably arouse in their hearts the McConnell, found this unaccept- same desire to fight and die for able. In a circular sent to all alum- their country that was responsible ni, he asked, “Do you want the for the sacrifice of those whose Members of Convocation and the names are on the tablets.” Alumni to fail in the first important project they have undertaken? I Embury saw this memorial as a don’t think you do. Do your part tool of recruitment and a represen- then in seeing that the Alumni tation of Canadian nationalism. make good their commitments. He continued, “This memorial, John Ross Macpherson, c. therefore, is to us a living thing. It Is that too much to ask?” McCo- 1914 nnell was playing on the guilty should not only remind us of the two different, yet inextricably tied consciences of the recipients of losses we suffered but it should meanings. The first applied to the his circular in words that echoed cause us to look forward with present generation. It represented those of war-time Canada. He gratitude to the years of peace the sadness of the families whose was appealing to their patriotism that lie ahead as a result of those loved ones had been lost in the and duty to the university––which sacrifices.” Great War, yet also the “glorious was to remember those who had The memorial triumph they fallen for a greater cause than is a “living [the soldiers] themselves. If alumni refused to thing,” in part, achieved contribute, they were to be con- because it and that sidered post-war shirkers who had regener- should make Photo by Eric Story failed their institution. The Great ated the them glad.” War may have passed, but the memory of John Ross attitudes of the era had not. those who Macpher- had fallen Financial difficulties eventually son’s father, in the war. It passed, and on 3 May 1928, the Douglas, gave those in Memorial Gates were unveiled agreed. attendance to the public. At 2:30 PM, Briga- Immediate- A poppy in front of the Memorial Gates of the unveiling a sense of dier General J.F.L. Embury of the ly afterward, he wrote closure. Yet that closure 28th Battalion gave his speech. President Murray, saying: did not mean the end. On the For him, the Memorial Gates had “I have just written father and contrary, the Memorial Gates were mother [John’s grandparents] to be used, once the construction University of Saskatchewan Archives & Special Collections, A-532 & Special Collections, University ofArchives Saskatchewan a detailed account of the of the university was complete, service and of the Banquet as the main entrance to campus. in the evening, and have It would be both a “utilitarian and endeavoured to convey an aesthetic memorial.” In doing to them something of the so, the Memorial Gates would live tremendous pride I felt in up to the name Saskatoon news- hearing from yourself and paper columnists gave it: “ The from so many others such Memorial Gateway.” sincere words of affection The Memorial Ribbons, 2015 and admiration for Ross.” 2 A “Desire for unity, goodwill and real endeavour” The Story of the Saskatoon Cenotaph The year was 1928.