Plaque Honoring Confederate President Removed From San Diego's Horton Plaza

SAN DIEGO, CA – A plaque honoring Confederate president Jefferson Davis was removed Wednesday morning from Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego.

San Diego City Councilman Christopher Ward announced that the monument had been removed by posting a picture on Twitter.

"While some may see many sides to this issue, monuments to bigotry have no place in San Diego," Ward said in a statement.

An online petition called for the removal of the plaque. The petition had gathered 70 signatures as of 11:20 a.m. Wednesday.

Ward thanked the public, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and city staff for their involvement in the removal of the plaque.

"Thank you to the San Diego citizens who raised this issue and pressed for action, Mayor Kevin Faulconer for quick direction, and to everyone at the city who moved without hesitation to stand clearly on the side of what's right," Ward said.

The plaque read: "First Pacific Terminal, Jefferson Davis Highway. Presented to the city of San Diego May 12, 1926 by California Division United Daughters of the Confederacy. Replaced May 12, 1956."

According to the petition, the replacement was removed at some point after veterans raised objections, but was re-installed in 1956 as part of a wave of Confederate monuments in the years following the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The plaque was taken down a couple of years ago to make way for a renovation of the park. City officials weren't clear why it was installed again.

The city of San Diego took action several days after a confrontation involving white supremacist groups resulted in the death of a woman in Charlottesville, Virginia. While Confederate symbols have been taken down across the U.S. over the last few years, the events last weekend hastened the removal of even more monuments.

"This morning I ordered the immediate removal of a plaque honoring the Confederacy at Horton Plaza Park," Faulconer said. "San Diegans stand together against Confederate symbols of division."

City News Service contributed to this article.

Photo credit Councilman Christopher Ward's office