been depicted as "a lone figure bravely travelling through approximately 30 km of wilderness from her home at Queenston to a British military detachment camped in DeCew House in what is today Thorold, Ontario." Historian Cecilia Morgan argues that the Secord story became famous in the 1880s when upper-class women sought to strengthen the emotional ties between Canadian women and the British Empire. She writes that they needed a female heroine to validate their claims for women's suffrage. The first product of their campaign was Sarah Anne Curzon's verse drama Laura Secord: The Heroine of 1812 in 1887. The play was a catalyst for "a deluge of articles and entries on Secord that filled Canadian histories and school textbooks at the turn of the 20th century". Although critics gave the play negative reviews, it was the first full work devoted to Secord's story and popularized her image. Secord has been compared to French-Canadian heroine Madeleine de Verchères and to American Revolution hero Paul Revere. Her story has been retold and commemorated by generations of biographers, playwrights, poets, novelists and journalists. After discovering a newspaper clipping of the events, early feminist Emma Currie began a lifelong interest in Secord's life. She tracked down information from Laura's relatives as far away as Great Barrington, and published a biographical account in 1900 called The Story of Laura Secord. She later successfully petitioned to have a Secord memorial erected in Queenston Heights. The cut stone granite monument stands and was dedicated in 1901. In 1905, Secord's portrait was hung in Parliament. Playwright Merrill Denison wrote a radio play of her story in 1931 which mixed serious history with parody. On the centennial of Secord's walk in 1913, and to capitalize on Canadian patriotic feelings, Frank O'Connor founded Laura Secord Chocolates. The chain's first location opened on Yonge and Elm streets in Toronto. The chocolates were packaged in black boxes adorned with a cameo of Secord. By the 1970s, the company had become the largest candy retailer in Canada. Among most Canadians, the name Laura Secord is more strongly associated with the chocolate company than with the historical figure. During the War of 1812, the Secords' Queenston homestead was fired upon and looted. It was restored in the late 20th century and given to the Niagara Parks Commission in 1971. It is now operated as a museum and gift shop at Partition and Queen streets