National Park Service is looking for public input on plans to remove William Penn statue at Welcome Park in efforts to make it ‘more inclusive’ for visitors

According to reports, the National Park Service is looking for public input on plans to rehabilitate Welcome Park in Philadelphia’s Old City. That will include the removal of the William Penn statue and the Slate Roof House model. 

The National Park Service want to “re-invision the park” and expand the interpretation of Native American history in Philadelphia. Representatives of the indigenous nations — including the Haudenosaunee, the Delaware Nation, Delaware Tribe of Indians, the Shawnee Tribe, and the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma have consulted in the proposed rehabilitation.

Okay so there are definitely way too many people on the internet discussing the proposed “rehabilitation” of Welcome Park. I would bet a lot of my hard earned money that the majority of people on both sides of the discussion to remove the William Penn statue and the Slate Roof House model have literally never visited the park in the first place.

I mean seriously, no one can possibly think anyone actually cares about Welcome Park, right? This place is literally a statue, a few benches, and a whole lotta nothing. 

Welcome Park located in Old City, Philadelphia

History of William Penn Statue at Welcome Park

Welcome Park at 2nd Street and Sansom Walk is located on the site of William Penn’s former home — the Slate Roof House — and is named after the ship, Welcome, which brought Penn to Philadelphia.

Sounds nice, right? Billy Penn, a religious Quaker who by the way, sits atop City Hall overlooking Philadelphia, also has a park named after his boat with another statue of him. Seems appropriate. William Penn is a very significant person in the history of the United States, Pennsylvania, and the city of Philadelphia.

Blah blah blah. Sorry, I can’t continue to write this post while pretending to care about some park in Old City that again, no one actually gives a shit about in the first place.

We basically have two options. You can rehabilitate the shit out of this park or I don’t know, leave it the fuck alone?

Like seriously, I understand that there are a ton of people out there that want a more “honest and inclusive” look into the history of Philadelphia and the United States of America. That’s perfectly fine with me and I really don’t even think it has to become a political issue with both sides arguing over something that in the grand scheme of things, seems pretty stupid to begin with.

The problem, is that any time shit like this happens, it’s about “rehabilitating” an area, which basically means erasing whatever was there and replacing it with something else.

If these representatives of indigenous nations want to give the place a facelift and put some Native American history in there then by all means, go right ahead.

I do however, think they would be better off finding a new area of the city to “rehabilitate” and use that as a new location to provide additional history and inclusive value to the city.

It’s not like Philadelphia is lacking in areas that are in massive need of a facelift, right?

Why are they focusing on William Penn and Welcome Park?

Just leave that there for people who like Billy Penn’s history and build your own park or statue elsewhere.

The whole “replacement and rehabilitation” for “inclusivity” is a bad way to gain public support and simply rubs people the wrong way. Just go find another spot and build a skyscraper for Native Americans for all I care.

I’m just sick of all the debates about dumb ass statues in parks that are basically unknown to the general population.

Good luck removing this guy from Billy Penn at Welcome Park

Just chained myself to the William Penn statue at Welcome Park, your move @INDEPENDENCENHP https://t.co/QuEsPtGexe pic.twitter.com/h3GgiqnbPJ

— Have A Nice Day Von Bro Dude (@ericjfink) January 8, 2024

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