When Winnipeg's first temporary cenotaph in front of the Bank of Montreal at Portage and Main was removed in 1923 due to its condition, the time had come to create a new, permanent cenotaph. The city created a Cenotaph Committee chaired by former Mayor R. D. Waugh and held a national design competition that received 48 proposals. The design by Toronto artist Emanuel Hahn was chosen.
The choice was protested by several groups because Hahn was born in Germany, had come to Canada in 1892 at the age of eleven and was a naturalized Canadian. On February 25, 1926, it was decided to hold a new competition and Hahn was paid the five hundred dollars despite the rejection. The new competition was re-opened to persons British-born or born in countries which were allies of Britain during the war. The winning design by Elizabeth Wyn-Wood of Toronto, who happened to be the wife of Emmanuel Hahn, was rejected by the citizens. She was paid for her design and Gilbert Parfitt was chosen.
Parfitt's design was a column of stone with a bronze sword, cross and small lion heads. Construction began in December 1927 and the cenotaph was officially dedicated on November 7, 1928.
