The memorial was dedicated at a service on Sunday 29 March 1925, following a procession lead by the Blackrod Public Prize Band and consisting of a guard of honour of 150 ex-service men, relatives of the Fallen, choirs from the parish church of St Katherine and the Wesleyan Chapel, the clergy, and the War Memorial Committee. The service was conducted by Reverend R W Gordon MA and an address was given by the Chairman of the Council Adam Brindle JP. The memorial was unveiled by Mrs Mary Ann Wilkinson, the oldest mother from Blackrod to have lost a son - Ralph Wilkinson - before four trumpeters from the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment sounded the ‘Last Post’ and one minutes silence was observed. Originally, there were 43 names of the Fallen from the First World War recorded on the south-west face of the memorial, but following the Second World War,

Wigan Observer, 03/07/1920: Report of a meeting on 29/06/1920 regarding the War Memorial. A proposal to erect a monument on Pool Green to the 51 men lost was rejected in favour of one to endow beds in Bolton and Wigan Infirmaries as the Blackrod War Memorial, which was passed unanimously.