Stay or go? Fate of Andrew Jackson statues at Kansas City, Independence courthouses up to voters

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Voters will once again decide the fate of two statues of U.S. President Andrew Jackson outside the Kansas City and Independence courthouses after legislators took steps this week to resume efforts to remove them. Plaques were added in 2021 noting that Jackson County was named for Jackson by Missouri lawmakers three years before he was elected as president. The statue has stood outside the north entrance of the courthouse in Kansas City since the building opened in 1934. It became a flash point during the demonstrations for racial justice in Kansas City following the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis policeman.