Dallas' Robert E. Lee Statue Declared ‘surplus Property' and Will Be Sold to the Highest Bidder

On a packed City Council agenda Wednesday morning, the subject that consumed your elected representatives' time was an old familiar: Alexander Phimister Proctor's 1935 bronze sculpture Robert E. Lee and Young Soldier, which has been in hiding at Hensley Field since its removal from an Oak Lawn park in September 2017. Talk about beating a dead horse — or, at least, a bronze one.After much hand-wringing, teeth-gnashing and general confusion, the council voted 12-3 to declare the sculpture "surplus property" so it could be sold to the highest bidder.That was the expected outcome, as Mayor Mike Rawlings and City Manager T.C. Broadnax hope the sculpture will fetch upwards of $950,000 — its appraised value — and that its sale will fund the removal of the Confederate War Memorial, the fate of which lies in a downtown Dallas courtroom.   Continue reading...