Strathcona Park was erected by the city of Ottawa and unveiled in approximately 1907. This memorial park is dedicated to Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, GCMG, GCVO, PC, DL. He was a businessman and politician who, in 1898 raised, equipped and maintained a unit of mounted rifles (Lord Strathcona’s Horse) for service in the South African War. The site was first used as a rifle range to train soldiers for the Boer War and also became the home of the Dominion Rifle Range. This history is preserved in the name of Range Road, which runs along the west of the park.