SAN ANTONIO – Workers removed the Confederate symbols located at the Bexar County Courthouse just before midnight Tuesday after a unanimous vote by the commissioners court.
The symbols that were ordered to be removed included a plaque adjacent to the courthouse of the Confederate flag and a reference to the Jefferson Davis Highway that was never approved or built by the federal government.
The other symbol is a plaque outside the former Federal Reserve Building that the county recently purchased, and marks the site where the Vance House once stood.
According to the plaque, Gen. Robert E. Lee stayed at the Vance House during his visits to San Antonio in the mid-1800s.
The decision to remove the symbols from Bexar County buildings was made after hours of debate Tuesday.
County commissioners also discussed replacing the Confederate emblems with new markers that would have more complete and accurate information about Bexar County's history.
There has been a push in San Antonio and around the nation to have Confederate flags and symbols taken down after a mass shooting in June inside a South Carolina church that claimed the lives of nine African-American worshipers, and was believed to be racially motivated.