The Fort Cedar Monument Shining A Spotlight Back In Time

After dinner last night, I was driving around the industrial area of town and came across the monument to Fort Cedar. 

The information about Fort Cedar in this piece comes from the monument itself and also the Southwester Heritage Center Historical Society. 

Fort Cedar took shape in November of 1851 when thirty-five men from Parowan settled Cedar City.  

The men made a temporary encampment made up of wagon boxes and sagebrush walls that got them through the first winter in Cedar City. 

In 1856 a fort 100 rods square was built on the site. The walls were five feet wide at the base, nine feet high and one foot wide at the top. If you’re wondering what a rod is, like I was, well according to Point to Point Land Surveyors a rod is equal to 16.5 feet. 

The Fort Cedar Monument, which was erected in 1956, stands on the southwest corner of the fort by a 50-ton piece of magnetite ore from the Iron mines around Cedar City. 

The Fort Cedar Monument is located at 1342 West Industrial Rd.