Quick Switch
Park Service’s secret plan to remove
Penn’s statue takes sudden U-turn
This statue of William Penn at Philly’s Welcome Park — and the Slate Roof House where he wrote his Charter of Privileges — were both slated for removal by a new National Park Service plan. Fortunately, outraged public opinion stopped the plan in its tracks. Photo by Jim Murphy, author of “Real Philly History, Real Fast.”
I was thrilled to learn that the local National Park Service’s (NPS) secret plan to pull William Penn’s statue (and more) from Welcome Park has been stopped … at least for now.
I believe NPS employees felt they had the power to ram through this ill-considered scheme. Fortunately, members of both political parties cried “foul” quickly … and effectively halted it.
What I learned running two
Billy Penn birthday celebrations
As someone who organized William Penn birthday parties at both Welcome Park and City Hall for the Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides … and who put $1 million of my own business liability insurance on the line to stage the first one … I believe I have a right to make some comments here.
(FYI … the first day news about Penn’s planned removal appeared online, there was no visible link for public comment. I hope that was not intentional.)
To start, let’s acknowledge that William Penn was a man of his time and inexplicably had up to 12 slaves. We can’t change that.
As I point out in my book, “Real Philly History, Real Fast,” however, he was a good friend of the Native Americans here.
Tamanend’s love for William Penn
Tamanend, the Lenni Lenape leader who Penn reportedly made a treaty with at nearby Penn Treaty Park, said this about Philadelphia’s Founder: “We will live in love with William Penn and his children as long as the creeks and rivers run, and while the sun, moon and stars endure.”
(Pretty strong statement. It held true while William Penn lived. Unfortunately, Penn’s children cheated the Indians out of territory the size of Rhode Island. Then things changed quickly.)
Voltaire reportedly called the Treaty of Shackamaxon between Penn and the Lenni Lenape: “… the only treaty never sworn to and never broken.” That’s how important and well-known this revolutionary pact was.
The Liberty Bell was a thank you to William Penn
There would be no Liberty Bell without William Penn. Maybe NPS staffers behind this crazy plan to remove Penn’s statue and the Slate Roof House from Welcome Park forgot this fact.
The bell was ordered by the Assembly of Pennsylvania to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of William Penn’s Charter of Privileges, which USHistory.org calls “Pennsylvania’s original constitution.” And he wrote it at the Slate Roof House.
The site says the charter “speaks of the rights and freedoms valued by people the world over. Particularly forward thinking were Penn’s ideas on religious freedom, his liberal stance on Native American rights, and his inclusion of citizens in enacting laws.”
10 more reasons to honor William Penn
· His “Holy Experiment” in Pennsylvania promoted religious tolerance, attracting people here from many countries, religions and walks of life.
· When Philadelphia began in 1682, New York had already been in existence for 58 years, and Boston for 52. In today’s world, they would have already been eligible for AARP. Yet by 1770, Philadelphia was the largest, most important and some would say, most cultured city in the Colonies, thanks to “Penn and Ben”: William Penn and Ben Franklin.
· Penn set up a framework of government allowing for trial by jury and other civil rights … plus peaceful change through amendments. And his 1701 Charter of Privileges anticipated the American Bill of Rights.
· He reduced the number of crimes punishable by death from over 200 in England to just 2 here — murder and treason.
· Penn helped lay out the grid plan for Philadelphia that became a template for countless American cities.
· He treated the Lenni Lenape Indians fairly and paid them for their land. He did the same for the Swedes and the Dutch, who had settled here before the English.
· He helped make Pennsylvania one of the most successful colonies in North America. Penn’s policies may well have made Philadelphia an ideal spot for our most revered citizen — Ben Franklin — to thrive. Unfortunately, “Penn and Ben” missed each other by about 20 years.
· He watches over his city from high above City Hall, the largest known statue atop a building anywhere in the world.
· He raced back to England in 1684 and stopped Lord Baltimore’s attempts to make Philadelphia “one of the prettiest towns in Maryland.”
· He was, said Thomas Jefferson, “the greatest law-giver the world has produced.” And he did all these things while living in Philadelphia less than four years.
Honoring people isn’t a zero-sum game
Celebrating and recognizing people should not be a game requiring a winner and loser. Philadelphia can find a creative way to honor both William Penn and the Native Americans who were here when he came in 1682, without ignoring or removing one.
Moving forward …
The National Park Service must find a way to retain William Penn’s Timeline in some way — even digitally. Welcome Park is the only park in Old City honoring the founder of both Pennsylvania and the City of Brotherly Love. The Timeline helps park visitors learn about Penn’s struggles and accomplishments, and is essential.
The National Park Service also must start giving Welcome Park the attention and maintenance it deserves. Conditions in recent years have ranged from bad to simply horrible.
Here’s a new way to honor
Philly’s Native Americans:
Establish a small fenced-off plot of ground in a very popular spot the National Park Service already owns and that attracts millions of visitors a year: the huge grassy area next to the Liberty Bell.
Put the name of the tribes that were in Philadelphia when William Penn landed here on a ceremonial plaque … and place a weeping willow in the center of the plot.
Make that tree a reminder of the way the United States government mistreated the Indian tribes in North America … and broke most of the treaties it made with them.
Use this weeping willow as a symbol to remind us that as great as the United States has sometimes been, our government has also seriously mistreated many of the country’s inhabitants, red and black and yellow. And that we can and should do better from now on.
Some Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn%27s_Treaty_with_the_Indians
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Shackamaxon
https://hiddencityphila.org/2014/05/respectfully-remembering-the-affable-one/
https://penntreatymuseum.org/history-2/peace-treaty/
https://www.inquirer.com/news/william-penn-statue-philadelphia-welcome-park-removal-20240108.html?query=Welcome%20Park
https://www.ushistory.org/libertybell/