Tennessee is planning to install a bronze statue of legendary frontiersman David Crockett by fall 2026 in front of the State Capitol.
The estimated $1 million project is going through the design phase. Then it will face a state committee evaluation before being erected late next year, in time for the inauguration of the state’s next governor in early 2027, according to state Architect Ann McGauran. She updated the State Building Commission’s Executive Subcommittee on the schedule Monday.
The Tennessee Capitol Commission previously approved the Crockett statue project after the Edward Carmack statue in front of the Capitol was toppled during 2020 protests that roiled the nation following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The statue of Carmack, who died in a 1908 shootout with political rivals, was put up in 1927. The former U.S. senator and newspaper executive, who clashed with civil rights activist Ida B. Wells over his support for lynching, was considered a martyr for the prohibition movement at the time.
A bust of Crockett already sits on the second floor of the State Capitol, signifying his importance in the history of Tennessee, where he was born in the eastern part of the state and gained a reputation as a hunter, fighter and storyteller before serving in the state legislature and Congress.