Monaghan removed from downtown Spokane and relocated to cemetery

Workers removed the statue of John Monaghan Wednesday morning from the downtown Spokane location where it stood for 120 years.

Monaghan was a U.S. Navy ensign killed in 1899 near Apia, Samoa, during a war between colonizing and native factions fighting over control of territory on the Samoan islands. The statue was erected in 1906.

The Spokane City Council agreed to pay $88,000 to Spokane Valley moving company Breithaupt & Sons to transfer the statue to the Monaghan family mausoleum in Fairmount Memorial Park. The monument will be moved in two phases: the statue first, then the concrete pedestal, city communications director Erin Hut said.

It is unclear when the concrete pedestal and plaque will be removed, Hut said. Both will be put up at the Monaghan mausoleum at Fairmount Cemetery in Spokane, Hut said.

The Monaghan family has been consulted through the entire process.

The landmark has been a source of controversy over the past couple of decades in particular because of a plaque on the back of the pedestal that depicted Samoans using primitive weapons and referred to them as "savage foes."

"In 1899, Ensign Monaghan took part in an unprovoked naval attack on our family's island of Upolu that killed hundreds of Samoans defending their own land," Grace, Jacob and Iusitina Laumatia of Plummer, Idaho, wrote in a letter to the editor in The Spokesman-Review in 2021. "Our plea to the community is not about Monaghan's individual character, but about the implications of honoring him, and implicitly U.S. actions."

Monaghan was killed at the Second Battle of Vailele, where British and American forces were defeated.

"The leader of the expedition fell under heavy fire, as did a number of the enlisted men," wrote Larry Cebula, an Eastern Washington University history professor, in an article on Spokane Historical. "Monaghan tried to rally the men and rescue his wounded commander, but the allies were outgunned in unfamiliar terrain. Monaghan died, and the survivors beat a hasty retreat."

After the battle, American and British forces bombarded the islands in attacks "that included some of the first uses of powerful chemical explosive shells" and Samoans surrendered, losing control of their islands to Americans, the British and Germans, according to Cebula's article.

Spokane City Councilwoman Sarah Dixit heard that the statue was being removed and headed over from Spokane City Hall to watch. Dixit said the statue has been a source of pain for many in the community, particularly Pacific Islanders.

"We want our downtown to be welcoming to all," she said.

Dixit added the issue is nuanced and that she supports moving the statue to the less prominent location.

"It hasn't been an effort to take it down and destroy," she said.

The Spokane Council of the Navy League of the United States had argued while aspects of the memorial should be updated, the statue should remain because Monaghan acted heroically to protect a fellow sailor in battle.

Kiana McKenna, deputy director of policy and strategy at the Pacific Islander Community Association, opposes the reinstallation of the statue at Fairmount.

"This will never be satisfying because we can never get the dignity back that was taken away from us in this tragedy," McKenna said.

McKenna hopes that the land can be used to further equity and tell history without celebrating "oppressors."

"This has been very, very painful for members of the community," McKenna said. "When they walk past this and see themselves referred to as savages, nobody wants to see somebody that has inflicted so much harm and violence on them every single day. And I know I drive past this statue every single day. I used to walk by it on my way to work every day. And the first time I saw it, I just remember feeling so awful. And I've never felt so unwelcome in the place that I've called my home for my whole life."

Jonathan Brunt contributed to this report.

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This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 7:09 PM.