Adding to the living memorial

Memorial University is a living memorial that remembers

The Memorial on Parade Parkette, on Parade Street, at Fort Townsend was unveiled Wednesday, June 7, 2017. The parkette is comprised of three history boards, engraved crests, paving stones, and an engraved caribou head. Melissa Wong/My Online Journalism Blog

By Melissa Wong
My Online Journalism Blog

One hundred years after the end of the First World War (WW1), the MUN WW100 Committee created a ‘parkette' on Parade Street, to remember.

In 1925, to honour the Newfoundlanders who fought during WWI, the Dominion of Newfoundland built an educational institution and named it the Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN).

"I am proud of the fact that Memorial University began its life as a living memorial to those who fell in war by serving as an enduring commitment to building a better post-war world," said Dr. Sean Cadigan, MUN's associate vice-president (academic) and past chair of WW100 commemorations' Steering Committee.

"The plaque honours those who lost their lives in WWI, for whom MUN got its name 'Memorial'"

The history boards for phase three of the heritage project 

were unveiled on June 27, 2018, at Memorial University 

of Newfoundland and Labrador's Arts and Administration 

Building. Melissa Wong/My Online Journalism Blog

"The people of the Dominion of Newfoundland chose to remember the fallen by building a better future for the young people," Cadigan added. "By extension, all people in what has become the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the world beyond."

The Memorial on Parade Commemorative Project Committee, primarily a voluntary group of the original Parade Street campus alumni, planned a three-phase heritage project.

The first phase of the project, completed on September 29, 2015, involved mounting a plaque on the main entrance of the former Memorial College, Parade Street.

"The plaque honours those who lost their lives in WWI, for whom MUN got its name 'Memorial'," Robert LeMessurier, chair of the Memorial on Parade Committee, explained.

The building was re-dedicated as the RNC Memorial Campus and "phase one was orchestrated to coincide with the official re-opening of the building after considerable refurbishment," LeMessurier added.

According to Douglas Ballam, events coordinator WW1 Commemoration, Marketing and Communications at Memorial, phase two was completed when the ‘parkette' was unveiled, on September 20, 2017, at the former Memorial College.

The Memorial on Parade Parkette on Parade Street at Fort
Townsend celebrates Memorial University's evolution.
A caribou head engraved in granite at the parkette.
Melissa Wong/My Online Journalism Blog

The Crests

LeMessurier explained the parkette has "four ‘crest' monuments, depicting the three partner institutions and a caribou head, inscribed with three words: Lest We Forget.  

The parkette has paved stones with engraved names, as per their donors. The three storyboards are located at the site, for MUN, College of Fisheries, and the RNC Memorial Campus and they show the evolution of those three institutions.

"The parkette was created to commemorate the decision taken, by leading educators of the Dominion of Newfoundland, in 1919 to build a college as a living memorial to all those who served in WW1," Cadigan said. "Just as the Parade Street campus has endured for nearly a century, so too will the parkette endure as an important commemoration of the origin and transformation of Memorial University College."

Fort Townsend's history was instrumental to the development of many Newfoundlanders' educational institutions.

The project started, "because there was no visible recognition at Parade Street (Fort Townsend) of the part, that the original building has played over these many years," LeMessurier said, so he proposed the heritage project. 

Many Newfoundlanders still remember

The old Memorial building has been refurbished and 

renamed for the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary 

Memorial Campus, but they did keep aspects of the 

old building. Melissa Wong/My Online Journalism Blog

"This building, originally was the original Memorial University," said Lynn Best, Director of Training for the RNC at Fort Townsend.

"Now, this building houses the training division. I am a member of the staff that works in the training division. The entire building has been repurposed, but they managed to hold some of the lovely features of the (original) building like the windows."

"It's a building we are proud of; it's a building that has had many purposes throughout its entire life," Best added.

 By the early 1950s, Memorial University was outgrowing its Parade Street Campus, and construction of a new campus on Elizabeth Avenue soon began.

In 1961, the university moved to a new campus.

"From 1964 to 1985, the Parade Street campus served as home to the College of Fisheries, Navigation, Marine Engineering & Electronics," Cadigan added. "In the early 1990s, the Parade Street became part of the RNC's headquarters and now serves as the RNC Memorial Campus."

Since the construction of Fort Townsend in 1924, it has housed four institutions for higher learning and training.

100 Years

Phase three was started on June 27, 2018, where Memorial on Parade Committee unveiled the first storyboard, at MUN's Arts and Administration Building, on Elizabeth Avenue.

"Phase three is targeted for completion in the fall of 2018," LeMessurier said. "It is not a coincidence, by the way, that this heritage odyssey of ours happens to coincide with the WW1 (1914-1918) 100th university commemoration, spearheaded by the MUN WW100 Committee."

We will never forget.

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