During the First World War, 162 young men of First Avenue Baptist Church at 77 First Avenue left for overseas. This period was one of loneliness and anxiety, of knitting and sending parcels, of heroism and tragedy of prison camps, of the wounded, and of 23 young lives given in the cause of freedom. A memorial hall in honour of parishioners who served and those who gave their lives in the First World War was dedicated by Reverend Dr. W.T. Graham on February 4, 1923.