Walter Scott Moore (December 23, 1853 – March 30, 1919) was the president of the Los Angeles, California, Common Council in 1883–84 and chief engineer of the city's Fire Department at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries.

[2] At the age of 20 or 21 he and his mother visited Los Angeles on a pleasure trip in 1874, and he moved to that city soon after, where he engaged in real estate and insurance.

Their children were Walter Scott Jr., Margaret (Mrs. Richard O'Neil) and Rowena (Mrs. Paul Selby of Johannesburg, South Africa).

He was a prominent civic figure, popular as a public speaker and after-dinner orator, and at different times was "candidate for the [California] Senate and Secretary of State.

"[4] In 1886, Moore, who was then the chief engineer of the city Fire Department, was the Republican candidate for California Secretary of State.

the unsavory apartments over Bob Eckert's saloon on Court Street were the scene of an orgie such as even the most salacious pen of ancient Rome never dared describe.

The negro waiter was stretched stupid upon the floor, surrounded with a halo of the fifty-eight champagne bottles which the party had emptied, while the man who now asks your suffrage for Secretary of State, almost stark nude, was endeavoring to arouse the waiter to go and get a photographer for an obscene purpose.

[1][2] At the time Mr. Moore took up residence in Los Angeles[,] the city fire department was volunteer[,] with a higher social value than a practical one.

[1] He resigned as chief in March 1900 after a county grand jury issued a report linking him with fraudulent purchases of hay for use by fire department horses.