Shortly after the turn of the century, the directors of Cypress Lawn purchased 100 acres on the west side of El Camino.

Then construction began on the magnificent mission-style Cypress Lawn Public Mausoleum featuring its incomparable stained-glass ceilings. Behind it is a 3-acre plot of unmarked grass under a towering obelisk.

Known as Laurel Hill Mound, this is the final resting place for approximately 35,000 San Francisco pioneers who were moved to Cypress Lawn from Laurel Hill Cemetery in 1940. This historical journey is told on a plaque next to a bronze statue commemorating the spirit of those San Francisco pioneers.