The National Park Service has announced that it will remove a statue of William Penn from his former home from a Philadelphia park commemorating Penn's founding of Pennsylvania.
The proposed “restoration” of Welcome Park is aimed at “providing a more welcoming, accurate and inclusive experience for visitors,” NPS said in a news release. It “includes an expanded interpretation of Philadelphia's Native American history” and was developed in collaboration with representatives of the Haudenosaunee Nation, Delaware Nation, Delaware Indian Tribe, Shawnee Nation, and Eastern Shawnee Nation of Oklahoma.
The park is named after the ship “Welcome,'' which Penn took to Philadelphia in 1682. The park was founded 300 years after him.
A call for public feedback on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has already received more than 500 comments.
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Welcome Park is dedicated to William Penn. This photo is from March 24, 2012. (Jon Graeme/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“Please leave the statue where it is,” one user responded to a tweet from Independence National Historical Park.
“My opinion is to abolish the fund and dissolve the National Park Service,” another wrote.
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Comments can be formally submitted to NPS through Planning, Environment, and Public Comments (PEPC) from January 8 to January 21. https://parkplanning.nps.gov.
“Comments submitted via social media, phone, email, or mail will not be accepted,” NPS said in a release.
William Penn (1644-1718) receives the belt from Lenni-Lenape Chief Tamanend (1628-1698) as part of a treaty in 1682 in which Penn purchased a portion of land for the colony of Pennsylvania. (Stock Montage/Getty Images)
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If NPS passes this proposal, Welcome Park would retain the street grid, river, and east wall that were part of the original design. They plan to plant buffers on three sides and add gathering space, including circular benches.
