Stevenson is perhaps best known for his efforts in securing Mount Royal as a public park for the city of Montreal. Since the mid-1850s, Stevenson had been a proponent of the creation of a park to protect the nature environment on Mount Royal. At the time, there were no roads to the crest of the mountain and most of the land was owned by some of the most affluent and influential businessmen in Montreal. In 1862, then Major Stevenson was ordered to stage a 100 gun salute to recognize the birthday of the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, who had visited Montreal two years earlier. His orders didn't specify the locale for the salute, so Stevenson decided to use the occasion to demonstrate that Mount Royal was accessible. On November 10, 1862, the members of the Montreal Field Battery were ordered to haul four cannons through the forests that covered Mount Royal and, exactly in time for the noon-hour Royal salute by all the churches in the City, the battery fired a volley. One hour later, the full 100 gun salute was made. One year later, Stevenson ordered the battery to repeat the event, in order to keep the idea of a hill-top park alive. Mount Royal Park was formally dedicated on Queen Victoria's birthday, May 24, 1876, and Stevenson, by now a Lt. Colonel, commanded another 100-gun salute by the battery to mark the occasion.