Tarrant County removes Confederate marker from courthouse
A marker dedicated to Confederate war soldiers and their descendants has been removed from the yard in front of the Tarrant County Courthouse.
The marker was removed Saturday, just days after Tarrant County Commissioners last week voted 4-0 to do so.
“We didn’t want to make a big deal about this,” Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said. “We felt it was the right thing to do but we didn’t want to say look at us or make a show about it.
“I believe very strongly in what we did.”
The vote came as protests against racism and police brutality continue in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Floyd died May 25 in the custody of Minneapolis police after an officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes.
Fort Worth attorney Jason Smith earlier this month renewed his years-long call for county leaders to remove the monument at the Tarrant County Courthouse.
“I am amazed at the swiftness in which Tarrant County took action,” Smith said Monday. “I am so glad that we are turning our back on Tarrant County’s racist past. And hopefully this will be the first step towards real action to stop abuse and discrimination.”
The marker was erected in 1953 and paid for by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
The cost to remove the monument totaled $16,755.71. That includes removing the marker from the grounds, crating it and moving it into storage in addition to repairing the landscaping and irrigation where it was on the yard, according to the county facilities department.
Here is a breakdown of the estimated costs:
▪ $8,125 to remove the monument, crate it and deliver it to storage.
▪ $6,700 to remove the concrete, replace a sprinkler head, fix the landscaping and replace St. Augustine grass. This included using a dump trailer for eight hours.
▪ $873.21 for irrigation and installation, which includes labor and materials.
