The fight over a historical marker about Concord native Elizabeth Gurley Flynn has ended, with sponsors saying they won’t appeal a judge’s ruling that they lack legal standing to sue over its removal after it offended some executive councilors and Gov. Chris Sununu.
The decision leaves intact the idea that the executive branch can veto these road-side markers for ideological reasons after they’ve been approved and installed, but sponsors say the fight achieved their major goal of letting people know about Flynn.
“While the marker is gone, for now, Flynn’s place in history is secure,” said Arnie Alpert, one of two people who initiated the proposal for the Flynn marker.
Alpert said the decision not to appeal the March 20 decision by Merrimack Superior Court Judge John Kissinger, who said Alpert and Mary Lee Sargent lacked legal status to fight the state decision, was pragmatic. “It was counsel’s advice … we were unlikely to overturn the judge’s ruling.”
The marker, one of almost 300 placed around New Hampshire in a state program dating back to 1958, was approved by the Division of Historical Resources and placed May 2023 at the intersection of Court and Montgomery streets, near where Gurley Flynn was born. It called her a “nationally known labor leader” and described her Communist Party membership, which led to her being honored in Moscow’s Red Square after her death.
The communist association fueled objections from two Republican members of the Executive Council, the five-member body that approves state contracts and many positions. The marker was removed two weeks later.
The marker is apparently being stored by the Department of Transportation. Sargent and Alpert said they hope the state will give it to a local government or educational organization to display it, as is allowed under the Division of Historical Resources regulations concerning retired historical markers.
“We were covered extensively in the local New Hampshire media, but also the New York Times, Washington Post, and wire service stories that appeared as far away as London and Taiwan,” Alpert said. “With the extensive interest in the Flynn marker, we have achieved our principal objective.”
Flynn is often referred to as “Rebel Girl,” the title of her autobiography, because of her participation in early labor and social movements.
