Dallas’ Landmark Commission voted 10-5 Monday afternoon to remove the Confederate Memorial from Pioneer Park near the downtown convention center.
The move comes two weeks after the city council voted to do the same. The Landmark Commission vote was required because the monument sits in a historic overlay (Pioneer Park) district.
The vote is the next step in removing the monument. There is now a 30-day period in which the decision can be appealed to the City Plan Commission – so it’s unlikely the memorial will come down until April, at the earliest.
The monument was finished in 1897 and moved to Pioneer Park in 1961 because of the construction of Interstate 30.
After the violence in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings created a task force to examine all Confederate markers and monuments.
The Dallas City Council passed a resolution in September 2017 to immediately remove the Robert E. Lee and Confederate Solider monument in Oak Lawn.
The task force made final recommendations later in the fall which included renaming Lee Park back to its original Oak Lawn Park name before the 1936 dedication of the statue.
The task force also recommended to add more explanation and context to Confederate markers at Fair Park and the removal of the Confederate memorial at Pioneer Park.
In April 2018, city staff recommended the Pioneer Park memorial not be removed, but instead preserved with the addition of plaques for historical context. After the council asked for more information from the Office of Cultural Affairs, the topic was shelved until a new council member in District 4 could be seated.
Carolyn King Arnold took the seat in January after former Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway resigned after pleading guilty to accepting bribes in August.
