LOCKHART, Texas — Editor's note: The related video is about Confederate monuments in Bastrop County.
On Tuesday, the Caldwell County Commissioners Court voted to remove and relocate a Confederate monument from the grounds of the county courthouse.
The vote came after organizers called for the removal of the granite obelisk, dedicated to soldiers of the Confederacy and erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1923. Four months before the monument's installation, the Ku Klux Klan held a parade through the streets of Lockhart featuring speakers at the courthouse.
However, removal of the monument will not happen until the measure is approved by the Texas Historical Commission.
While the original resolution called for the monument to be removed as soon as possible, Commissioner Barbara Shelton asked for a change to get approval from the historical commission. The courthouse and its surroundings have been recognized as historically significant by the National Register of Historic Places and by the State of Texas.
In the meantime, the county judge is not allowing the monument to be covered.
Previously, the monument was covered with a tarp out of respect to protesters participating in a memorial walk for George Floyd. That tarp was pulled off by an individual on June 13, according to the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office. The following day, the sheriff’s office received a report about a noose hanging in the Zion Church on Chamberlin Road.
Organizers pushing for the monument’s removal called the vote a “huge win for grassroots community organizing.”
According to the resolution, private funding will be used to cover all costs associated with moving the monument.
The resolution recommends it be relocated to the Caldwell County Museum.
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