The Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza is an urban park and gathering place, located in front of the Arizona state capitol complex in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. It serves as a home to a number of memorials honoring prominent figures in Arizona history as well as memorializing significant wars and other events that have affected the state. It is designated as one of the Phoenix Points of Pride.HistoryThe plaza was established on March 9, 1978, by the Arizona Legislature in honor of Governor Wesley Bolin, who had died a mere 5 days previously on March 4. Prior to the resolution creating the plaza, it had simply been a part of the Legislative Governmental Mall. While the plaza exists only as a part of the Mall, in common usage the terms are interchangeable and the name of the plaza is often used in preference to the Mall.Much like the National Mall on which it is loosely based, the Legislative Governmental Mall is intended as an open-air public space featuring monuments, memorials and gardens. Some of these monuments were erected prior to the inception of the Plaza, such as the monument to the USS Arizona which was dedicated over a year earlier on December 7, 1976. The Plaza, when dedicated, included these existing memorials and all subsequent memorials have been located within the boundaries of the plaza.
