The War Memorial and Park is an open space in the central business district on Main Street in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. It was erected in 1923 after two-and-one-half years of planning and work by a committee appointed for the purpose. The project began at the urging of the local Council of Women in November, 1920, and was taken up by the Town Council of the time. The twenty-three member executive committee appointed to decide what form the memorial would take was comprised of councilors from the three municipal units within Yarmouth County as well as returned servicemen and representatives from nearly every organization within the town. General meetings were held seeking input from the general populace and a monument was finally decided upon as a fitting memorial.
The search for a suitable design for a statue eventually ended with the choice of a soldier designed by Henri Hébert of Montreal. The seven foot tall statue was cast in bronze and weighed 680 kilograms. The base section was designed and fabricated by Noble & Hyde of Montreal, an architectural firm which had designed many monuments already erected in Canada, and the granite for its construction was supplied by the Standard Granite quarries. The cost of the entire War memorial was $16,500, all of which was raised by volunteers canvassing for donations. Following the end of World War II, bronze plaques with the names of those who had lost their lives were affixed around the base of the monument, and similarly, after the Korean War a separate granite marker was placed next to the base to commemorate those lost in that conflict.
The memorial is in memory of and to honour the men and women of Yarmouth County who lost their lives in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.
