Controversial statue hauled from site
Some felt Thomas Fallon sculpture was a symbol of American imperialism
As onlookers hovered by, construction crews donned their hard hats, reflective vests and gloves in the wee hours of the night on Monday to remove a statue that has long stirred controversy in America's 10th largest city.
Though it only took a few hours of careful engineering to bring the 16foot Thomas Fallon statue down, it was a move years in the making that culminated in its swift dismantling, a reflection of a larger trend across the country where once-celebrated public displays of art have been removed after protests over their dark pasts.
Seen as a symbol of American imperialism by some in the South Bay's Mexican and Indigenous communities, the 12,000-pound bronze artwork was plucked off its pedestal by a large white crane and placed on the back of a truck bed padded with a couple of mattresses.
By early Tuesday morning, all that remained was a disfigured concrete base, caution tape and construction netting.
The city will hold on to the statue unless a museum or academic institution expresses interest in displaying it, a transfer that would require separate city approval. There are no current plans to fill the now-empty spot at the traffic median on St. James Street, though some in the Indigenous community are
Workers move the Thomas Fallon statue to a flatbed trailer on St. James Street in downtown San Jose late Monday. The 12,000-pound artwork that is worth approximately $6,000and cost the city close to $500,000to remove will be kept in storage.
seeking to have it replaced with something more inclusive for the city.
According to city officials, the artwork is worth approximately $6,000. It cost the city close to half a million dollars to remove.
“The era of glorifying key players in the American Genocide and politically erasing the truth is over,” wrote Jonathan Lockwood, a spokesperson for the Muwékma Ohlone Tribe, in a statement. The tribe is one of the groups that have advocated for the removal of the statue. “The City of San Jose listened to the people who vastly supported moving the Fallon statue to a more appropriate location where history can be shared about a brutal, not-so-distant past.”
The statue, which depicts the former San Jose mayor and captain in the Mexican-American War on
horseback raising an American flag, was installed in 2002 after being held in storage in an Oakland warehouse for a decade amid public outcry over its purported symbolism.
Over a decade later, nearby construction forced the city to spend $100,000 to move the statue nearly 100 feet west to where it was finally removed Monday.
Though controversy surrounded the artwork since its installation, pressure to remove it gained traction during the protests in the summer of 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. Both the city's Arts Commission and councilmembers voted to dismantle it in 2021, with then-Mayor Sam Liccardo's approval.
Around that time, protestors tried to set it on fire, scrawl messages or throw red paint on it to symbolize
blood on Fallon's hands.
The artwork was commissioned in 1988 by thenMayor Tom McEnery without any public input and is supposed to commemorate American settlers' victory in the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846 when California was taken from the Mexican government.
While its critics say Fallon was responsible for murder and genocide during the conquest of the American West, no evidence has come to light to support these claims.
Others have argued that Fallon was never a consequential part of the city's history — he served as mayor in the late 1850s — and therefore didn't deserve such a prominent spot near the Guadalupe Freeway and roughly a mile from City Hall.
Last week, the city started the initial removal process by jackhammering its concrete base. Officials said the removal late Monday was performed at night to decrease any interruption to traffic.
Under California law, the city cannot melt or destroy the statue without the creator's permission, which was not given by Tanzanian artist Robert Glen.
Though Fallon's statue may be gone, his presence in San Jose still remains just a couple blocks away at a home he and his wife used to live in. The Victorian-era Carmela and
Thomas Fallon House is located near San Pedro Square and the GonzalesPeralta Adobe, the oldest residence in the city.
It isn't the first time that a statue in San Jose has been removed because of its divisive symbolism. In 2018, a statue of Christopher Columbus in City Hall was removed and relocated to the Italian American Heritage Foundation's headquarters.