Updated on Jan. 14, 2019 at 11:45 a.m. with information about the plaque's removal and at Jan. 11, 2019 at 11:35 a.m. with remarks from Reps. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, and Jeff Leach, R-Plano.

AUSTIN — The Children of the Confederacy plaque is officially gone.

The controversial marker was removed from its spot in the state Capitol on Saturday evening, State Preservation Board spokesman Chris Currens confirmed Monday. Agency staff performed the removal themselves, Currens said, and the plaque will be kept at its offices in downtown Austin until the State Preservation Board decides what to do with it later this month.

The plaque, which was erected in 1959 during the Civil Rights era, claimed slavery was not the underlying cause of the Civil War. The board's governing members, which include Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Speaker Dennis Bonnen, voted on Friday to take the plaque down.

1 / 9Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, speaks to members of the media after the State Preservation Board voted to remove a Children of the Confederacy plaque that is displayed outside his Capitol office. (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 2 / 9The State Preservation Board votes to remove a Children of the Confederacy plaque that is displayed in the Texas state capital on the fourth day of the 86th Texas legislature on Friday, January 11, 2019 at the Texas state capital in Austin, Texas. Members of the State Preservation Board are, from left, Representative Jeff Leach, Speaker of the House Dennis Bonnen, Governor Greg Abbott, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and Alethea Swann Bugg. (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 3 / 9The State Preservation Board votes to remove a Children of the Confederacy plaque that is displayed in the Texas state capital on the fourth day of the 86th Texas legislature on Friday, January 11, 2019 at the Texas state capital in Austin, Texas. Members of the State Preservation Board are, from left, Representative Jeff Leach, Speaker of the House Dennis Bonnen, Governor Greg Abbott, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and Alethea Swann Bugg. (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 4 / 9The State Preservation Board, including Speaker of the House Dennis Bonnen, Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, votes to remove a Children of the Confederacy plaque that is displayed in the Texas state capital on the fourth day of the 86th Texas legislature on Friday, January 11, 2019 at the Texas state capital in Austin, Texas.(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 5 / 9State Representative Eric Johnson of Dallas, left, shakes hands with Bruce Bugg, Chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, before the State Preservation Board voted to remove a Children of the Confederacy plaque that is displayed in the Texas state capital on the fourth day of the 86th Texas legislature on Friday, January 11, 2019 at the Texas state capital in Austin, Texas. (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 6 / 9State Representative Eric Johnson of Dallas, watches as the State Preservation Board voted to remove a Children of the Confederacy plaque that is displayed in the Texas state capital on the fourth day of the 86th Texas legislature on Friday, January 11, 2019 at the Texas state capital in Austin, Texas. (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 7 / 9A plaque entitled "Children of the Confederacy Creed" hangs in a hallway on the ground floor of the Texas state capital on the third day of the 86th Texas legislature on Thursday, January 10, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 8 / 9A plaque entitled "Children of the Confederacy Creed" hangs in a hallway on the ground floor of the Texas state capital on the third day of the 86th Texas legislature on Thursday, January 10, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 9 / 9A plaque entitled "Children of the Confederacy Creed" hangs in a hallway on the ground floor of the Texas state capital on the third day of the 86th Texas legislature on Thursday, January 10, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)

Board member Jeff Leach, who is also a Republican state House member from Plano, made the motion to remove the controversial marker. After the meeting, he said he was "proud" to vote for its removal: "This inaccurate plaque is a historical abomination — and I am happy to know that it will no longer have a home in the Texas Capitol."

Democrats had long asked for the plaque to be taken down. But their calls didn't gain much momentum until Rep. Eric Johnson began a formal process to remove the plaque last year. In his Capitol office after Friday's meeting, Johnson said he was feeling "an interesting mix of emotions."

"This is really not a time to pat ourselves on the back," said the Dallas Democrat. "I'm glad that the Preservation Board ultimately decided to remove it. But, again, 60 years is a long time for a blatant lie to sit in the state Capitol like that."

Johnson added that he was surprised by how quickly the decision was made Friday morning. He called the vote "perfunctory" and "devoid of emotion" but said he hoped the removal would spur a broader conversation about the history of the Civil War and the dozens of other nods to the Confederacy on the grounds of the Capitol.

"This isn't actual history," Johnson said of the plaque. "This is the early or mid-20th-century version of fake news. And that's exactly why it had to come down."

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in an opinion issued late last year, said the plaque could come down without a vote of the full Legislature. The Preservation Board's six governing members could also vote to remove it, he said.

The board is made up of the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker, one state senator, one additional state representative and one member of the public. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick did not vote to appoint a member of the Senate after the term of Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, expired this week. The other five members voted unanimously to remove the plaque.

Abbott, Bonnen and Leach, all Republicans, had previously called for the plaque's removal, citing its historical inaccuracy.