288 DAYSSan Francisco · 1915 ⌕
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Sculpture · Fine Arts

Pioneer Mother Monument

Charles Grafly's bronze pioneer mother and children, raised by California's women before the Palace of Fine Arts; one of the few exposition sculptures still surviving.

The Pioneer Mother at the exposition, 1915
The Pioneer Mother at the exposition, 1915Robert A. Reid, photographer, 1915, public domain

The Pioneer Mother was the women's monument. The Official Guide calls it a project 'devised and carried to a successful conclusion by the Women of California.' A campaign to raise $25,000 for it was launched in 1913, and Phoebe A. Hearst chaired the Pioneer Mother Memorial Association. Unlike the staff sculpture around the courts, it was a permanent bronze, cast by Charles Grafly of Philadelphia.

Casting ran late, and it was unveiled only on June 30, 1915, before the Palace of Fine Arts, at ceremonies attended by more than 1,000 people. Six-year-old John Randolph Hearst, Phoebe Hearst's grandson, drew aside the huge flag. On the pedestal, University of California president Benjamin Ide Wheeler wrote that she 'brought the three-fold leaven of enduring society, faith, gentleness, hope, with the nurture of children.'

To an assemblage of men busied with the perishable rewards of to-day, she brought the three-fold leaven of enduring society, faith, gentleness, hope, with the nurture of children.

Benjamin Ide Wheeler, pedestal inscription, quoted in Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. 2 (1921), ch. LX

At a glance

  • Todd records the $25,000 goal; Wikipedia gives $22,500 raised.
  • The monument was planned for the San Francisco Civic Center after the fair, but that never happened (Wikipedia).
  • Found weather-beaten and vandalized among the fair's ruins during the Depression, it was restored by civic groups led by the Native Daughters of the Golden West for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition (Wikipedia).
  • Rededicated in Golden Gate Park on December 8, 1940 (Wikipedia).
  • Grafly's plaster sketches are at Wichita State University's Ulrich Museum of Art (Wikipedia).
The Pioneer Mother Monument
The Pioneer Mother MonumentUnknown photographer, 1915, public domain
The monument today in Golden Gate Park
The monument today in Golden Gate ParkDaderot · CC0

Afterward

Survives. After decades neglected on the old fair site, it was restored for the 1939–40 Golden Gate International Exposition and installed in Golden Gate Park, where it was rededicated on December 8, 1940.

The site today

Present-day photographs and video of this spot are being made for the film. You can stand there yourself: it is a stop on the self-guided walk.

On the walk: S47 The Pioneer Mother, Golden Gate Park

Today · photograph to comeThe Pioneer Mother, Golden Gate Park

Golden Gate Park near Stow Lake (search 'Pioneer Mother Monument')

Have a photo of this spot? Email it to hello@288days.com with code S47 and up to 50 characters of credit. It appears here and in the film.

Where it stood

Pioneer Mother Monument stood at about 37.80236 N, 122.44910 W on today's map. The whole fairground over the city →

Sources