The St. Eleanors War Memorial in Summerside was erected by the residents of the area, which was formerly the village of St. Eleanors. It was one of the earliest war memorials erected on Prince Edward Island and arrived in late November 1919, only a year after the Great War had ended.
The official unveiling ceremony for the monument did not take place until September 17, 1920, and was attended by a large crowd, including school children of St. Eleanors, North St. Eleanors, and Linkletter. The committee who raised money and made all the arrangements for the memorial consisted of Austin Scales, Thomas Andrews, Wallace McCallum and Albert Tanton.
The jagged-cut granite monument was purchased from Thomson Monument Company for $1,355.75. A newspaper description, given prior to its placement on the land donated by Loman Adams, stated: “It is of gray granite, 9 feet high and 4 feet wide at the base, and weighs about 4 tons. On three sides the stone is rough, as a reminder of the hard and rough life, those, in whose memory it is being erected, led while serving their country overseas.”
The names of nine fallen heroes from the area were engraved on the monument. The original names were later supplemented by those of two men from the district who lost their lives in the Second World War.
