Montgomery County officials next week will seek approval from City of Rockville officials to move a controversial statue of a Confederate soldier to a spot in the city’s Beall Dawson Historic Park.
Officials from the county’s Department of General Services, who won approval in September from the city’s Historic District Commission to move the statue from outside the Red Brick Courthouse on Maryland Avenue, will go in front of the commission again Nov. 19.
This time, the county will be asking for permission to move the statue to one of two spots on the grounds of the Beall Dawson Historic Park, home to the Montgomery County Historical Society.
The house there is home to a museum that includes the Historical Society’s library, the Stonestreet Medical Museum and an administration building.
The preferred spot for the statue is near the northwest corner of West Middle Lane and North Van Buren Street, next to two park benches and a brick path and in front of a line of trees. The alternate location is about 80 feet east, with a tree buffer between the potential statue site and the backyards of homes on West Montgomery Avenue.
Via City of Rockville
The statue, erected in 1913 by The United Daughters of the Confederacy, is a life-sized bronze of a cavalry private and was created to commemorate the soldiers from the county who served the Confederacy during the Civil War.
It has engendered much controversy since the summer, when County Executive Ike Leggett first said he wanted to remove it from county property. Leggett’s call to move the statue came amid the national debate over Confederate symbols following the racially fueled murders of nine people in June in a black church in Charleston, South Carolina.
While many around the county objected to moving the statue to parks near them, suggesting it should be put in storage or sold, some in Rockville argued the statue should be left in the public’s view, but in a more appropriate spot with a deeper explanation of the county’s Civil War history.
Staff for the Rockville Historic District Commission recommended approving the county’s request to move the statue to the Beall Dawson site. Final approval must come from the city’s council and the county must return to the Historic District Commission at some point for a more detailed review of landscaping, lighting and interpretative signage.