A Fayette County arts review board has recommended that statues of Confederate figures John Hunt Morgan and John C. Breckinridge be moved from the courthouse square but federal and state tax credit restrictions are attached to some of the funds that will pay the $30 million reno cost of the square, so it may not be allowed.
The Lexington Herald Leader reports that city officials weren’t told about the roadblock until the board met to vote on the recommendations during a meeting last week.
The arts review board advised that the statues outside Lexington’s old courthouse of Morgan, a Confederate General and Breckinridge, a former U.S. Vice President, Congressman, Senator and member of the Confederate Army be relocated and that the Cheapside slave auction block marker should be moved to its original location at the northeast corner of the old courthouse.
Because all the recommendations include historic structures, alterations might not be permitted. The renovation project is expected to get underway this spring.