Coming down: More than 100-year-old Confederate statue removed from Leonard Park

Megan Gray Hatfield Register Staff Writer, Gainesville Daily Register, Texas
·4 min read

Jun. 18—A more than 100-year-old statue that's been near I-35 and California St. is no more. At least not in public view.

On Wednesday, June 16, a crew with Dallas-based Unified Fine Arts dismantled and moved the Confederate statue at Leonard Park, 1000 W. California St., which was erected Feb. 15, 1908, by the Gainesville-based Lou Dougherty Chapter No. 366 Daughters of the Confederacy.

"We received bids several weeks ago and we selected the low bid of $12,108, which is being paid from the hotel occupancy tax fund," said City Manager Barry Sullivan of the moving company.

State law allows HOT funds to be used for history and art, he said.

During a special meeting on July 14, 2020, the Gainesville City Council unanimously agreed to remove the Confederate monument.

At that meeting, former Mayor Jim Goldsworthy said the decision wasn't political. He said he'd been discussing the Confederate monuments in town since the George Floyd prayer vigil at the Gainesville Farmers Market in early June 2020. Floyd, who was Black, died during an arrest in late May 2020 in Minneapolis.

Floyd's death sparked protests nationwide for police reforms and better treatment of Black people, including reconsidering monuments related to the Confederacy or slavery.

The statue removal happened just a few days before Juneteenth, a holiday that marks the end of slavery in the U.S. However, it happened to just be coincidental, Mayor Tommy Moore told the Register Wednesday evening.

Sullivan said the city had planned on removing the statue this summer so a new monument that is being worked on could be erected at the park in September.

"We will now have the base examined to determine if it can be used for the new monument," Sullivan said. "If it cannot be utilized, then it will be removed to allow for a new base to be installed."

In March, members of the Gainesville City Council voted unanimously to purchase a $398,000 monument to be placed at Leonard Park to represent the town's patriotism and unity. Moore, who was Mayor Pro Tem at the time, was absent for the March 16 council meeting and Ward 3 Councilman Michael Hill phoned in from vacation. At the time of the meeting, about $200,000 had been raised privately for the new statue.

The statue, designed by Austin-based Idlewild, has five sides and includes the pledge of allegiance to the state flag, the pledge of allegiance to the American flag, the Medal of Honor Host City logo with quotes by MOH recipients and a quote by Martin Luther King Jr.

Gainesville is the only Medal of Honor Host City in the nation.

Different-colored arms hold up a bronze star at the top of the monument, an artist rendering indicated.

Sullivan said the Confederate statue will be in storage until the Morton Museum can develop a display.

On Aug. 27, 2020, the city entered an agreement with the United Daughters of the Confederacy to remove the Confederate monument from the park and take it "within reasonable distance" to a location selected by the UDC, according to a previous Register report. The agreement states the UDC must provide the Morton Museum of Cooke County in downtown Gainesville the first right of refusal.

Sullivan has said there is no record in meeting minutes from the early 1900s that indicates the city owns the statue.

According to an archived report, Sullivan budgeted $30,000 from the city's Hotel Occupancy Tax fund for the monument removal project should the Morton Museum accept the statue.

He said Wednesday evening that the remaining monies will be used to remove base. The move to Morton Museum will be after the end of the fiscal year, he said. The city's fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

Cooke County Heritage Society President Elaine McHorse previously said the museum will accept the statue if the city and UDC give it to them.

The CCHS established the Morton Museum and oversees its operations. She said the museum is a nonprofit organization and they do not purchase property.

McHorse said she wasn't aware the statue was being removed on Wednesday and could not say when the statue would be taken to the museum because none of her board members have talked with city officials about it to her knowledge.

When asked of his opinion on the monument coming down Wednesday, Moore said he believes the council acted responsibly and took appropriate action.

"I felt like the council took their time to study this issue and to represent all community members," he said. "And I know there are varying opinions on both sides of that. Me personally, I was proud of the city council for acting to move to preserve the monument but move it out of a public place so that people that are offended by it weren't having to view that while spending time with their families in our public parks and things like that."