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Confederate Monument Relocation Will Cost City $50,000

Louisville Metro government is chipping in $50,000 to help relocate the Confederate monument that currently stands near the University of Louisville campus.

Mayor Greg Fischer's office announced earlier this week the near 70-foot tall obelisk will be dismantled in the coming weeks and shipped to Brandeburg, Kentucky.

Officials in the small town some 50 miles east of Louisville claim the monument will be a draw for tourism. The town currently hosts a historic Civil War site.

The Brandenburg City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to accept the monument from Louisville, according to a reportfrom The Courier-Journal.

A spokesman for Fischer's office said $50,000 will come from the city's general fund. City officials have previously said the cost of relocation will be paid for by the U of L Foundation. In fact, the foundation will foot the bulk of the relocation bill. A foundation spokesman said the group will spend $350,000 to dismantle and relocate the monument.

"This was part of the agreement made several months ago," the spokesman said.

Fischer announced earlier this year the monument no longer had a place in Louisville.

“The stain of slavery and racism that this monument represents for many, many people has no place in a compassionate, forward leaning city,” he said via Twitter in April.

The monument came to Louisville as a gift from the Kentucky Woman’s Monument Association to commemorate the Kentuckians who fought and died for the Confederacy during the Civil War. It’s stood for 121 years.

When first erected, it stood beyond the reaches of the U of L campus. But as time passed, the growing campus came to encircle the monument.

And the decision to remove the monument sparked another debate. While many cheered the exit of the controversial statue, a group headed up by the Sons of Confederate Veterans challenged the move, saying the monument was protected as a designated historical object.

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Jacob Ryan is the managing editor of the Kentucky Center for Investigative reporting. He's an award-winning investigative reporter who joined LPM in 2014. Email Jacob at jryan@lpm.org.