Lexington Mayor Jim Gray says he plans to take action to relocate Confederate statues

Lexington Mayor Jim Gray announced Saturday in a series of Twitter posts that he intends to take action to relocate the city's Confederate statues.

Gray tweeted that the "tragic events in Charlottesville" accelerated an announcement he intended to make next week, adding that he plans to ask the city council to support Lexington's petition to the Kentucky Military Heritage Commission, which he says is a required next step.

The white nationalist groups that gathered Saturday in Charlottesville were drawn at least in part to the city by a vote to sell a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The city also renamed Lee Park, where the statue stands, and another park named for Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.

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From April 2016: Confederate memorial at U of L to be removed

In May, prominent white nationalist Richard Spencer and several dozen torch-wielding demonstrators gathered by the Lee statue to protest the vote for its removal, according to USA TODAY. And, in July, Klu Klux Klan members held a rally in Charlottesville's Justice Park.

Louisville removed a 121-year-old Confederate monument on the University of Louisville's Belknap campus in April of 2016.

It was dismantled later that year and relocated to Brandenburg, Kentucky, a small, Ohio River town about 45 miles away. The town wants to use it as part of Civil War re-enactment events.

"I recognize that some people say this monument should stay here because it is part of history," Mayor Greg Fischer said at the time, "but I also appreciate that we can make our own history."

Lexington's Confederate statues of John C. Breckinridge and John Hunt Morgan rest on the lawn of the former Fayette County Courthouse. Gray tweeted Saturday that the space will soon be Lexington's new visitor's center.

Reach Darcy Costello at 502-582-4834 or dcostello@courier-journal.com.