Dowling statue headed to storage — for now
One of Houston’s two Confederate statues will be stored in a warehouse instead of a Texas historical site — at least for now.
The statue, which depicts Confederate Lt. Richard “Dick” Dowling and stands at the entrance to Hermann Park, initially was slated to go to the Sabine Pass Battleground State Historic Site in Port Arthur as part of a plan Mayor Sylvester Turner announced last week to relocate the two Confederate monuments.
Port Arthur Mayor Thurman Bill Bartie, however, balked at that idea, calling it “totally disrespectful for some society to make a decision for something to be placed here.”
The Texas Historical Commission, which manages the Port Arthur site, tabled a vote scheduled for today to accept the monument.
Bartie told the Beaumont Enterprise that an intermediary conveyed those concerns to Turner and the Houston mayor had agreed to keep the statue in storage until another site is found.
A Turner spokesperson did not confirm those details but said Tuesday the statue would be held in storage “until final arrangements are made to move it to a new location.” The location remained unclear.
“As far as we know, it has only been removed from this week’s agenda,” said Bailey Curwick, a spokesperson for the Texas Historical Commission, of the motion to accept the monument. It remains possible that the commission could take up the action at a later date.
Sabine Pass was a key port for Confederate shipments during the Civil War where Dowling led a rebel group that fended off an attack from a much larger force of Union soldiers.
The Sabine Pass Battleground State Historic Site already has one statue of Dowling and other displays about the battle.
Houston’s other Confederate monument, the Spirit of the Confederacy statue in Sam Houston Park, will be moved to the Houston Museum of African American Culture. The Houston Endowment has provided funds to transfer that statue, according to Turner’s office.
The mayor said the monuments would be removed by Friday, which is Juneteenth, the state holiday celebrating the day in 1865 that Texas slaves learned they had been freed two years earlier.
Turner established a task force in 2017 to look into what to do with the statues. The group determined they should be removed from city property but not destroyed.
It appears the city also may consider moving the statue of Christopher Columbus in Bell Park, which has attracted in vandals in recent weeks.
“That decision has not been made, there is conversation happening,” Mayor Pro Tem David
Martin said during a city council session Tuesday. “And if it is moved, it will be moved to an appropriate place in the City of Houston.”