Now that the hoopla has started to die down this week over the removal of two Confederate statues at Jacksonville's Springfield Park, Mayor Donna Deegan must decide what to do with them while there are promises the artwork will not be destroyed.
Two statues, one that was on top of a pavilion and another under the pavilion at the park off Jacksonville's Main Street, were abruptly removed by construction crews early Wednesday. While a small crowd of about three dozen people cheered the removal of the monuments of "Florida's Tribute to Women of the Confederacy," some of Jacksonville's Republican political leaders derided Deegan, a Democrat, for ordering the removal of the statues unilaterally without City Council approval.
She used donated, private money to pay for the work that cost an estimated $187,000.
Still, after being hoisted by crane from their pedestals, the statues were loaded onto a wooden pallet, placed on a flat-bed truck and driven away from the park, which was formerly named Confederate Park before the moniker changed in 2020 to reflect one of Jacksonville's oldest historic neighborhoods known as Springfield.
Chief Communications Officer for the city of Jacksonville, Phillip Perry, said in an email Friday that the statues are being stored safely.
"The statues are in a secure city-owned warehouse. For security reasons, we are not publicizing the exact location," Perry said.
As far as the ultimate future location of the statues, Perry said, "No decisions have been made from here."
Whatever happens to the Springfield Park Confederate statues, Perry said, "Mayor Deegan is open to eventually placing them in a museum or another location that makes sense and she is willing to have that conversation with the community and City Council."
Wednesday's removal of the Springfield Park Confederate memorial statues mimicked the approach previous Mayor Lenny Curry, a Republican, took in 2020 when he removed a Confederate monument in what was then known as Hemming Plaza, now named James Weldon Johnson Park, across the street from Jacksonville City Hall. That was removed by crews overnight.
While James Weldon Johnson and Springfield Park monuments were the highest profile Confederate memorials in Jacksonville, there are other Confederate memorials that remain on public land in Jacksonville. Most notably, there are multiple Confederate memorials in what's known as the Old City Cemetery off Union Street, only a few blocks from Springfield Park.
The Republican Party of Duval County said in an X social media post, formerly known as Twitter, that the "radical left" will go beyond Confederate monuments and will target city historic statutes such as Andrew Jackson's statue near the riverfront in downtown. Jackson is the namesake of the city.
Deegan herself said in a Thursday interview with Action News Jax CBS47/Fox 30 television that those claims are unfounded. She went further to say she has no plans to address any other Confederate markers in the city.
"People will always press something to the point of the ridiculous I think to make a point," said Deegan in the TV interview.
Perry said any additional considerations for any remaining Confederate monuments and markers simply aren't on the radar of the Mayor's Office.
"No decisions yet but she is open and willing to have the community discussion," Perry said.
In the Action News report, Deegan acknowledged she campaigned on removing the Springfield Park statues before she was elected in May. And that's the only Confederate marker she had ever targeted.
"I think this is the one we've been vastly focused on. If Council or the community wants to look at other things, I'm happy to do that, but this is really where our full focus has been," Deegan said.
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Editor's note: Drew Dixon's spouse is an employee of Mayor Deegan's administration.
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