St. Louis Public Radio A statue of Ninian Edwards was removed from its pedestal in City Plaza after a local group, Our Edwardsville, asked for its removal because of the figure’s pro-slavery stances. The statue will still remain in the park. The wake of a summer of racial reckoning in 2020 has many communities rethinking how they represent influential figures and symbols, including Edwardsville, Illinois. For the past year, some residents have worked to remove a statue of the city’s dubbed founder, Ninian Edwards. In the fall, the city changed the name of a small park in downtown Edwardsville from Ninian Edwards Plaza to City Plaza. And last week, the city took a park statue of Edwards off its pedestal after a local group, Our Edwardsville, asked for its removal because of the figure’s pro-slavery stances and wars against Native Americans.