The town of Hillsborough has removed the “Confederate Memorial” lettering from outside of the Orange County Historical Museum.

The lettering will be preserved in a climate-controlled location for future use in a historical display about the building.

Originally constructed in 1934 as the Confederate Memorial building, it served as the Orange County Public Library before converting to a museum.

The lettering was removed after a request from the Orange County Historical Society, the Historical Foundation of Hillsborough and Orange County in May. The request was approved by the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners in July.

The Historical Museum and the property at 201 North Churton Street are rich in history. The North Carolina Constitutional Convention took place in 1788 on the site and the building was constructed as part of the Works Progress Administration program created under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The town plans to install signage to provide historical context for the building, explaining its history and major events.

The removal of the lettering is characteristic of a larger recent trend around the South to remove confederate symbols from public buildings and spaces.  Saunders Hall, on the campus of the University of North Carolina, was renamed Carolina Hall in 2015.  William L. Saunders, the building’s namesake, was a Colonel in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and has been linked to the Ku Klux Klan as a leader of the terrorist group in the late 1860’s.

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