History of the Garden

Dedication of the International Peace Garden took place on July 14, 1932, with some 50,000 persons present.  A cairn, build of stones gathered from North Dakota and Manitoba was the only boundary maker inscribed on the cairn are these words

TO GOD IN HIS GLORY,
we two nations
dedicate this garden
and pledge ourselves
that as long as men
shall live, we will
not take up arms
against one another.

On either side of the cairn two flag poles, fluttered with the  the Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack. In 1945, the Union Jack was replaced by the Red Ensign. Twenty years later, on February 15, 1965, the present Maple Leaf flag was adopted, and has flown from the flagstaff since that date.

At this time, North America was caught up in the bitter grip of the great depression.  While funds were short, labor was not.  In 1934 the U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps, under the supervision of the National Park Service was engaged. They fenced the United States acreage, cleared bush land, built lagoons, and constructed the first building, the Lodge, made of native stone from North Dakota and logs from the Riding Mountain area in Manitoba.

The Corps also built a crescent-shaped lake named Lake Udall, in honor of the publisher of the Boissevain Recorder, W. V. Udall, an ardent promoter of the Garden. A larger body of water, known as Lake Stormon, was built on the Canadian side to honor the American supporter John A. Stormon.  Judge Stormon gave over forty years of devoted service to the International Peace Garden, as Secretary and then President. He died in 1981, but happily lived to see his efforts and the work of many early enthusiasts raise the Garden to its present stage of beauty and popularity.