Of the 850 young men and women from Red Deer and district who served in the Great War, 118 were killed. On December 18, 1918, five weeks after the end of the War, the Central Alberta local of the Great War Veterans Association (forerunner of the Royal Canadian Legion) organized a large public meeting to discuss a memorial. On May 20, 1920, the Memorial and Community Building Committee met to discuss the need for a monument.
At the suggestion of Lochlan MacLean, it was decided that the monument be a statue of a soldier mounted on a pedestal. The Unknown Soldier, the iconic statue standing atop the Red Deer Cenotaph depicts a soldier statue facing towards the location of the Canadian Pacific Railway station where many of the soldiers departed for the battlefield. The statue accurately represents the dress kit of a Canadian soldier during the First World War. The soldier looks west over his shoulder away from the ravages of European battlefields and towards home and peace.
Major Frank Norbury, a sculptor in Edmonton, was chosen to sculpt the Unknown Soldier. It is carved from Tyndall limestone. The Red Deer Cenotaph is one of the earliest and best known works of Norbury, a skilled sculptor, decorated Veteran, and major contributor to artistic culture in Alberta. Born in Liverpool in 1871, Norbury trained as a stonemason and worked on many buildings in his home city as a young man. He emigrated to Canada after serving in the First World War, settling in Edmonton.
Local architect, C.A. Julian Sharman designed the base for the cenotaph which was built by Lachlan MacLean of MacLean Granite. In the early 1920s, over $5,000 in donations were raised to cover the entire cost of the project. The cenotaph was unveiled on September 15, 1922, by Lord Byng of Vimy, Governor General of Canada.
Parchment rolls with the names of those killed in the First World War were placed in a copper tube in the pedestal. Another roll lists the names of all those from Red Deer and district who served in the First World War. In 1949, the bronze plaque on the cenotaph was updated to include those who died during service in the Second World War. In 1988, the plaque was updated to include those who died in the Korean War.
In 2009, the Cenotaph was designated as a Municipal Historic Resource. In 2012, it was designated as a Provincial Historic Resource. In 2011, the area surrounding the Cenotaph was enhanced to create Veterans' Park, a place for people to relax, while learning about those from Red Deer and Central Alberta who served in wars and peacekeeping missions.
