Historical marker memorializing Confederate State Capital of Kentucky

Item

Legacies Classification
Memorial Place
Memorial Type
Plaque/Marker
Memorial Context
Lost Cause
Memorialized Subject
Bowling Green, KY
Title
Historical marker memorializing Confederate State Capital of Kentucky
Background and Context
This marker was created to memorize the fact that Bowling Green, KY, was the state capital of the Confederacy during the Civil War. In 2017, the marker was temporarily removed and placed in storage in the Kentucky Museum so it would not get damaged during the construction of Hilltopper Hall. The marker was reinstalled on February 14th the following year, a few feet from its previous location. In 2019, the Student Government Association voted to relocate a marker near the Kentucky Museum. The resolution states the marker stands as a reminder of the racially intolerant past of Bowling Green and WKU and must be taken down so that show its “commitment to inclusivity.” The relocation, as the resolution author Kara Lowry told the College Heights
Herald, noted, “is a good compromise for people who believe that [the marker] is
preserving history.” WKU, however, declined to relocate the marker. In 2020, President Timonthy Caboni decided to remove the marker following the death of Breanna Taylor in Louisville in March. President Caboni, in an email to faculty and staff, stated that the move was spurred by perennial concerns about the marker’s placement on campus and the current national racial reckoning sparked by recent police killings of Black Americans. The marker is currently in storage.
Physical Description
Bronze marker standing roughly 5-6 tall, including a plaque.
Memorial Inscription
Bowling Green named state capital at the Convention in Russellville November 20, 1861. First Governor, George W. Johnson. Commissioners to the Confederate Congress, William Preston, W.W. Simms and Henry Burnett.
Creator/Participating Person(s)
Erected by Kentucky Department of Highways (Marker Number 67). Originally placed in front of The Kentucky Building.
Date created, installed or dedicated
1952
Date Modified
2017
2020
Historical Period
1945-1976: Era of Civil Rights Movement and resistance to Civil Rights Movement
2000-Present: Memorialization in the Era of Universities Studying Slavery and the Black Lives Matter Movement
Location: Institution, City, State
Western Kentucky University; Bowling Green, Kentucky
Tags
Altered - Moved

Position: 142 (236 views)