National Park Service retracts plans to remove William Penn statue from historic Philadelphia park following backlash

CNN —

When you think of Philadelphia’s iconic historic landmarks, you might think of Independence Hall or the Liberty Bell.

But for the past week, federal, state and local officials have been focused on a lesser-known open air museum smaller than a city block.

Over the course of four days, the National Park Service proposed and then retracted plans to change Philadelphia’s “Welcome Park” after outrage spread from social media to the governor’s office.

The park problem began Friday, January 5, when the NPS announced it wanted the public’s input on its plan to change the city’s “Welcome Park,” which is a small park built on the historic site of William Penn’s home.

The park — which is part of the same larger park that includes Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and other historic Philadelphia sites — honors Penn, the English Quaker who founded Pennsylvania and sailed to Philadelphia on his ship named “Welcome.”

The park features a grid of Penn’s original plan for Philadelphia and a small statue of Penn in the center of the historic site.

However the NPS said its proposed “rehabilitation” of the park would include an “expanded interpretation of the Native American history of Philadelphia.”

This plan would include removing both the statue of Penn and a model of his original house.

The original post made by the NPS quickly drew hundreds of critical responses — many from conservative voices.

“The decision by President Biden and his administration to try and cancel William Penn out of whole cloth is another sad example of the left in this country scraping the bottom of the barrel of wokeism to advance an extreme ideology and a nonsensical view of history,” said PA Republican State House Leader Bryan Cutler