“Largest bas-relief military monument”. Does this grab your attention? We are standing before the Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial. It is at 501 N. Hill Street. This isn’t just any monument. The Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial stands on the actual site it commemorates.
Dedicated in 1958, the memorial tells a story. It uses a terra-cotta memorial wall, a pylon with a flagpole, and an 80-foot waterfall. The waterfall was turned on again in 2018 after 42 years. The memorial wall shows the first U.S. flag raised in Los Angeles. This happened in 1847 after the Mexican-American War.
Los Angeles celebrated its first Fourth of July here. The Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial marks that celebration. The wall also depicts eastern pioneers. Spanish ranchos are shown, too. A prairie schooner represents early settlers. An image shows the impact of water and power on the region. The waterfall emphasizes this.
Influential members of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers spearheaded the monument. They were descendants of the Mormon Battalion. In 1949, they convinced the LA County Board of Supervisors to build it. Civic Center development was changing the area. There was interest in large-scale Los Angeles monuments. The Civic Center needed a retaining wall. So, the Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial became a reality.
An architectural competition chose the design. Kazumi Adachi and Daisuke Dike Nagano won. Construction started in 1953. A second competition sought a sculptural design for the wall’s bas-relief. The artwork had to show the flag raising. It also needed to depict water, power, agriculture, and transportation. The artwork had to be clear to those unfamiliar with the history. Henry Kreis won the award.
Kreis designed the terra-cotta memorial wall. It shows American troops raising the flag. Other scenes show orange groves and cattle ranching. Water and power systems are depicted. Gladding McBean fabricated Kreis’s panels. Albert Stewart oversaw the wall’s design. He also designed the pylon and flagpole artwork.
For 60 years, the Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial remained largely untouched. The surrounding area developed. This led to damage and neglect. The waterfall was shut off in 1977 due to drought. The monument suffered from time, weather, seismic activity, and neglect.
But in 2014, things changed. A renovation project began. In 2018, the waterfall flowed again. During renovations, a time capsule from 1958 was found in the flagpole. It held photos and county documents. A new time capsule was sealed in 2019. It contains stories and mementos representing LA County’s diversity.
The Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial is more than stone and water. It’s a reminder of Los Angeles’s past. It honors those who shaped this land.