With little fanfare or advance notice, workers Friday morning began taking apart a Confederate monument along Ward Parkway just south of 55th Street.
As cars rushed by, workers disassembled the monument's limestone column and benches with chainsaws and other power tools.
In a statement released early Friday morning, the Kansas City Parks Board said the monument is being removed to a "secure, off-site" location. The statement also said a "private, anonymous donor" was paying for the cost of removal.
The Board recently began fielding an increased number of complaints about the monument, which was dedicated in 1934 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
The monument has few visible symbols, such as soldiers or cannon, but a Confederate battle flag appears on the monument's central column, crossing the flag of the Union. The monument is dedicated in memory of "the Loyal Women of the Old South."
The monument was moved to its current site on Ward Parkway's grassy central median in 1958 from its previous placement near the Country Club Plaza.
On Sunday, crews boxed up the monument after it was vandalized. Someone spray painted several symbols on the monument, including what appeared to be a red hammer and sickle.
Kyle Palmer is KCUR's morning newscaster and a reporter.
Brian Ellison contributed to this report.
