Memorial Avenue is dedicated to the citizens of Port Arthur who gave their lives in the First World War. One hundred and seventy-five willow trees were erected in 1926 by the Rotary Club of Port Arthur in cooperation with the former City of Port Arthur.
On 11 November 1936, the Rotary Club erected a large plaque on Memorial Avenue south of Queen Street to acknowledge that the trees had been planted in grateful remembrance by the Rotary Club of Port Arthur in cooperation with the City of Port Arthur. A plaque explaining the commemoration of Memorial Avenue was erected at 470 High Street S in 1991 and the avenue was rededicated.
In the 1950s, the section of May Street between the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition fairgrounds and Central Avenue was renamed and included in the present day Memorial Avenue.
In May of 2013, volunteers planted the first dozen caliper trees, a mixture of American basswood, red maple, white oak, bay willow, white spruce, blue spruce and a variety of perennial shrubs. The aim was to re-focus on Memorial Avenue and how it was intended to be a remembrance of the soldiers from the First World War.
In 1918, Canadians turned to the duty of commemorating the dead. Some promoted practical memorials like Roads of Remembrance. These linear tree-lined avenues had trees that were typically a single species, regularly spaced along each side of the avenue that would grow tall and stately. American elms were chosen for many of these avenues. A small plaque was used to assign a particular tree to a specific fallen soldier. In some cases, the next-of-kin was involved in purchasing the tree and/or plaque for the deceased soldier.
Roads of Remembrance were based on two symbol-laden images. The first was France’s tree-lined country avenues: “long straight roads, with large elms on either side, beautiful and useful, and loved by the Canadians overseas.” The second symbol was a living memorial: trees represented the victory of life over death. Memorial trees became living symbols of the sacrifices made in France and Belgium.
