A cairn made of flat rough cut stones with a small cross atop, the cenotaph has not always been in its present location. When first built in 1968 by local contracting firm Max Helmer Construction Ltd. the cenotaph stood near the present site of the Windermere Valley Museum, at Third Street & Sixth Avenue, about 775 metres north. It was moved to its downtown location in 2014, "
in time for the 2014 Remembrance Day service", also by Max Helmer Construction Ltd.
On opposite sides of the cenotaph are black granite plaques commemorating the dead of the first and second world wars, the First World War plaque on the south side, the Second World War plaque on the north side, with a smaller Korean War plaque below it. Following is the text from the World War I plaque.
1914-1918
PRO PATRIA
BROWN N. BUTTERFIELD P.
DOUGHERTY. H.
GALLAGHER F.J.
HUME F.B.
JOHNSTON A.
KENNEDY A.D.
MATTHEWS H.
MATTHEWS K.
MORGAN C.H.
McLEOD D.S.
PHILLIPS J.N.
POPE C.L.
RICHARDSON E.B.
RICHARDSON A.D.
SHIBLEY A.W.
STRATH J.
WALSH M.J.
There is a
controversy surrounding the cenotaph concerning the possible loss of a Boer War plaque. Some insist it was once part of the cenotaph yet most people do not remember there ever having been a Boer War plaque associated with the cenotaph.