The Albert Pike memorial returned to its granite plinth in Judiciary Square on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, five years after protesters pulled the bronze figure to the ground and set it ablaze.
The National Park Service said the reinstallation follows an Aug. 4 announcement targeting an October completion after repairs to the base and mounting hardware. The agency has tied the project to federal historic-preservation duties and executive orders issued this year to “beautify” the capital and reinstate previously removed statues.
Pike’s statue—approved by Congress in 1899 and erected in 1901—was for decades the only outdoor monument to a Confederate general in the District. A lawyer, poet and influential Freemason, Pike served as a Confederate brigadier general before becoming a senior figure in the Scottish Rite. His reputation has long been controversial: historians have documented his postwar involvement with the early Ku Klux Klan, reportedly helping draft parts of its rituals and serving as a senior judicial officer within the organization during Reconstruction.
Those associations, along with his writings defending slavery and white supremacy, have made the statue a target of criticism since its installation. Protesters toppled and burned it on June 19, 2020, amid nationwide demonstrations after George Floyd’s murder. The Park Service removed the remains the next day, leaving the plinth in place.
District leaders have opposed returning the statue for years. The D.C. Council first urged removal in 1992; Mayor Muriel Bowser backed taking it down after the 2017 violence in Charlottesville; and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton has repeatedly introduced legislation to have the statue permanently removed to a museum. After the Park Service’s August decision, Norton said she would reintroduce her bill in the new Congress.
During the Biden administration, the memorial site remained empty while local officials pressed for a permanent federal solution; Congress did not pass removal legislation in 2023 despite Norton’s proposal.
The statue’s return comes after President Donald Trump signed executive orders this year directing agencies to restore historical displays and “reinstate pre-existing statues,” a policy the Park Service cited in explaining the reinstallation. News releases and coverage in August said the Pike work would be finished in October.
Sunday’s placement drew fresh criticism from D.C. officials and civil-rights advocates who argue Confederate figures—and particularly one linked to the Ku Klux Klan—should be interpreted in museums, not honored in civic space.
