Nathan Masters

Could this flagpole and the two cannons be remnants of Fort Moore, the earthworks constructed by American troops in 1847 during their occupation of the city?

This week, at Los Angeles Magazine’s City Think blog, I write about the city’s first Fourth of July celebration in 1847. A 150-foot flagpole crafted out of two pine tree trunks played a key role in the military ceremony. In researching the post, I came across the above ca.1901 photo, copies of which exist in both the USC Libraries’ and Los Angeles Public Library’s collections. The LAPL’s metadata identifies the objects as remnants of the historic fort. The USC Digital Library’s metadata, meanwhile, is silent. I did find another view of the flagpole here in the USC Digital Library. (The Broadway tunnel, no longer extant, was built underneath the site of Fort Moore.) Is this Fort Moore’s flagpole, hauled over dozens of miles by gardener Juan Ramirez? Or was it a replica placed at the site by historically minded citizens?