Sunrise Easter Cross - San Francisco, CA - Christian Crosses on Waymarking.com

The first cross was erected on Mount Davidson in 1923 for a Easter Sunrise Service, led by Dean J. Wilmer Gresham of Grace Cathedral. Since then many thousands people have made the pre-dawn climb for an Easter sunrise sermon on the mountain.

The current cross is the fifth to occupy this site, some earlier wooden ones, having burned to the ground. The 103 foot cross is constructed from lumber and concrete with reinforced steel and has remained pretty much unchanged since it was built. The cross sits on a concrete block foundation that is sunk 16 feet down in the bedrock below. The cross is 10 feet square at its base and tapers to a 9 feet square at the top. At the dedication a copper box was placed in the base. The box contains an 1848 and 1934 editions of the Bible, stones from the Garden of Gethsemane, water from the River Jordan, 1933 city and telephone directories, and issues of all the leading newspapers of 1934.

Controversy surrounded the cross in 1990 when a lawsuit was filed against the city stating that the presence of the cross on city land violated the California Constitution. This was settled by sixty-eight percent of voters passing Proposition F on the San Francisco ballot of November 1997. This approved the sale of 0.38 acres on which the cross resides to the Council of Armenian Organizations of Northern California for $26,000. The terms of the sale require that the land remain open space for public access and prohibit the buyer from making commercial, industrial or residential use of the land. The terms of the sale require that the land remain open space for public access and prohibit the buyer from making commercial, industrial or residential use of the land. Signs are now posted at the park entrances and at the perimeter of the now privately owned summit around the cross to reaffirm its separation from the public park land.

Above information was extracted from the Mt Davidson neighborhoods website.

Type of cross: Latin cross Material used: Other... Characteristics of this cross: Controversy forced the city of San Francisco to sell the public land on which the cross resides, to avoid a conflict with the California Constitution over separation of church and state. Describe the location: Located on the highest point in San Francisco, a beautiful hilly and forested area Year of manufacture: 04/01/1934 Is this cross commemorative ?: Yes

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Date Logged Log User Rating   08/11/2008 Chasing Blue Sky visited it