A California gold rush town voted Tuesday to change its logo to remove a noose that stems from its mid-19th century reputation as “Hangtown” following high-profile lynchings of criminal suspects.
The City Council for Placerville, which is about 45 miles northeast of Sacramento, voted to remove the noose after listening to emotional comments from residents, CBS 13 Sacramento reported.
Hangman’s tree historic spot is a building in Placerville with a puppet of a man hanging from the gallows
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Some argued that it is part of the history of the town, while others said it is violent and gives the city a bad reputation.
The council’s vote was unanimous.
The decision came on the heels of nearly a year of protests against racial injustice which prompted reconsideration of images of nooses and what they symbolize in a history of violence against American Blacks.
The signs and symbols of Hangtown are commonplace in Placerville, the El Dorado County seat in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada.
The circular logo shows a miner washing gold in a stream. The noose hangs from a tree in the background. Written around the image are the words “City of Placerville,” “Old Hangtown” and “1854,” the year the city was incorporated.
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Placerville dates to the era when thousands of fortune-seekers from all over the world suddenly descended on California in search of the Mother Lode.
According to the city’s history presentation, the area was first called Dry Diggins — a reference to a type of mining — and then became known as Hangtown when three men — two French and one Chilean — were lynched in 1849 on suspicion of crimes.
The fourth and final lynching occurred in 1850 after a man stabbed someone in a saloon, according to the presentation by Brendan Lindsay, associate professor of history at California State University, Sacramento.
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Other lynchings were considered but suspects were ultimately turned over to authorities and the name Placerville rapidly overtook the nickname in published reports.
Fox News has reached out to the Placerville City Council seeking comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.