The Denton Confederate Soldier Monument was an outdoor Confederate memorial installed in downtown Denton, Texas, in the United States.
Description
The statue depicts an armed Confederate soldier standing on an arch with the inscription, "Our Confederate Soldiers".
History
The monument was funded and erected in 1918 by the Katie Daffan Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
The courthouse behind where the monument had stood was named a Texas Historic Landmark in 1970, a National Historic Registry landmark in 1977, and a Texas State Archeological Landmark in 1981.
Vandalism and removal
One local resident, Willie Hudspeth, has been working to remove the memorial since 2000.
The monument was vandalized with the words "This Is Racist" in 2015. On February 1, 2018, Denton County leaders voted 15–0 to keep the statue but add a plaque denouncing slavery and a video kiosk explaining the city's racial history and progress (which was never added or completed).
On June 9, 2020, in the wake of the protests following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Denton County commissioners voted to remove the memorial.
On the morning of June 25, 2020, removal of the statue began just before dawn.
See also
1918 in art
Confederate Monument (Fort Worth, Texas) List of Confederate monuments and memorials List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests
References
1918 establishments in Texas
1918 sculptures
2020 disestablishments in Texas
Monuments and memorials in the United States removed during the George Floyd protests Buildings and structures in Denton, Texas Confederate States of America monuments and memorials in Texas Outdoor sculptures in Texas Sculptures of men in Texas Statues in Texas Vandalized works of art in Texas Statues removed in 2020