The city of Dallas' request to immediately remove the Confederate War Memorial from Pioneer Park has been granted by the 5th Court of Appeals. But just when that will happen is unknown.
The Dallas Morning News is reportingthat the timeline for removal of the 65-foot obelisk has not been finalized.
“We are working with our vendor to develop a plan for removal, but since we just got the go-ahead late yesterday, nothing has been determined as of yet," Jennifer Scripps, the city's director of cultural affairs, told the News in an email.
The Dallas City Council has taken up the issue of removing Confederate monuments off and on for several years beginning in 2017 after the deadly protest in Charlottesville, Virginia. A statue of Robert E. Lee was removedfrom Oak Lawn Park in 2017.
The Confederate War Memorial, made of granite and marble, was designed by Frank Teich and dedicated in 1896 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. It features a rebel soldier at the top of the obelisk. The letters "CSA," for the Confederate States of America, are engraved on the front of the monument's base above a dedication stone.
The pillar is surrounded by four Confederate leaders — Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Albert Sidney Johnston and Jefferson Davis. The sculpture was originally located at Old City Park, but was moved and rededicated at Pioneer Park in 1961 due to construction of Interstate 30.
Other links to the Confederacy still stand in the city, noted the Dallas Morning News. The Confederate flag is displayed at Fair Park, near a statue of former mayor and klansman R.L. Thornton. Throckmorton Street in Oak Lawn is named for James Webb Throckmorton, who served in the Confederate army. Alfred Horatio Belo, the founder of The Dallas Morning News and namesake of Belo Gardens and Belo Mansion, was a Confederate colonel.
