Queen Elizabeth Way Monument

The Queen Elizabeth Way Monument, also known as the Lion Monument and as the Loring Lion, is an Art Deco memorial originally located at the Toronto end of the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW). The monument was designed by architect W.I. Sommerville, sculptors Frances Loring, and Florence Wyle helped model the royal profiles and crown.

It was dedicated June 7, 1939 during the visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the namesake of the highway, in what was the first visit to a British dominion by the reigning sovereign. It consists of a column with a crown at the top and a lion at the base. The monument was moved in August 1975 in order to accommodate widening of the original QEW, and is now located in the nearby Sir Casimir Gzowski Park along Lake Ontario, on the east side of the Humber River. It was re-dedicated in 1989 by Queen Elizabeth, by then known as the Queen Mother.

Also along the QEW is the decorative stone pillar on the eastern approach to the Henley Bridge in St. Catharines, Ontario. It was also dedicated by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939. There are two monuments of the bridge (east and west approach) consisting of four regal lions and each bearing a unique shield. A pillar is located on the opposite side of each monument with a sailboat motif on the west pillar.

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    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    Queen Jane was in labor
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    —Unknown. The Death of Queen Jane (l. 1–4)

    Once in a while, God sends a good white person my way, even to this day. I think it’s God’s way of keeping me from becoming too mean. And when he sends a nice one to me, then I have to eat crow. And honey, crow is a tough old bird to eat, let me tell you.
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    The volatile truth of our words should continually betray the inadequacy of the residual statement. Their truth is instantly translated; its literal monument alone remains.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)