The decision to begin the relocation process was made jointly by the Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square Art Committee and the Denton County Commissioners Court, Eads said. A state antiquities permit application will be submitted seeking approval from the Texas Historical Commission, according to county spokesperson Dawn Cobb.
“[We] have made a joint decision to remove and relocate the Confederate memorial from its current location... to be retained and reinterpreted for educational and historical purposes by Denton County,” Eads said. “To be clear, this statue will be preserved, not destroyed.”
Reports of the removal or destruction of historical artifacts across the nation, including graffiti done to the All-War Memorial on the courthouse lawn in Denton, spurred the art committee and commissioners to make a decision, Eads said. Two people were arrested in connection with that vandalism during a June 1 protest, according to the county.
Business owners near the Confederate memorial and police officers tasked with protecting the statue will also be kept safe from possible harm by its removal, according to Eads.
“Some may view this as a symbolic victory, but at the end of the day, this is a matter of public safety,” Eads said. “Today, this important step is to preserve both community peace and a piece of history.”
The Confederate memorial, erected in 1918, has been a topic of discussion in the community for years. Last fall, the square's art committee shared plans to add new structures and informational pieces around the memorial, as previously reported by Community Impact Newspaper.
Willie Hudspeth, president of the Denton County NAACP and long-time protester of the location of the memorial, commended the court's decision for removal during the public comment section of the June 9 meeting. However, he said that the reasoning Eads gave for the memorial's removal was not representative of the county.
"I think it’s a positive thing,” Hudspeth said. “[But] if in fact you are just moving it for safety and not the fact that it represents something that is very negative and very hurtful to a large population of our [county], then that’s unfortunate.”
Hudspeth also urged commissioners to take public input when deciding where and how to place the memorial elsewhere.
“I hope that you will consider letting the public have something to say with where it will go and what kind of contextual representation should be there,” Hudspeth said.
Following its removal, the memorial will likely be displayed somewhere else along with several other artifacts to inform the public on the history of race in Denton County, Eads said. Details on where or what that will look like were not immediately shared.
“This one step, our step, is in our ongoing efforts to form a more perfect union while controlling the memorial’s ultimate destiny,” Eads said.
