William Penn 1644 – 1718

As of March 21, 2008 at 8:30 AM
Steps: 1,913,281
Miles: 806.76

A note: The Virtual Walker will be back as soon as he plods his way out of Puddin' Swamp and actually gets somewhere of note. In the meantime, The Real World Walker will be doing some blogs.

Neither walker walked (much) on Wednesday as it was raining and their legs were weary. You may recall, during a walk in Fairmount Park, mention of the City Hall with it's statue of William Penn. William Penn was an interesting man.


William Penn (October 14, 1644 – July 30, 1718) was founder and "Absolute Proprietor" of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future U.S. state of Pennsylvania. He was known as an early champion of democracy and religious freedom and famous for his treaty with the Lenape Indians.

King Charles II of England had a large loan from Penn's father, after whose death, King Charles settled by granting Penn a large area west and south of New Jersey on March 4, 1681. Penn called the area Sylvania (Latin for woods), which the King changed to Pennsylvania in honor of the elder Penn. One of the first counties of Pennsylvania was called Bucks County, named after Buckinghamshire in England, the Penn family seat and original home of many of the first settlers.

The freedom of religion in Pennsylvania (complete freedom of religion for everybody who believed in God) brought not only English, Welsh, German and Dutch Quakers to the colony, but also Huguenots (French Protestants), Mennonites, Amish, Catholics, Lutherans from Catholic German states, and Jews.

William Penn's ideas were later studied by Benjamin Franklin as well as the pamphleteer of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine, whose father was also a Quaker.

From 1682 to 1684 Penn lived in the Province of Pennsylvania. Penn designed the City of Philadelphia ("Brotherly Love") and conceived of it as a "greene Country Towne". His design for the city was in a rectangular grid with large lots, dividing the city into four quadrants.

Penn suffered a stroke, in 1712, after which he was unable to speak or take care of himself and died in 1718 in England.


William Penn stands on the top of City Hall.
- It is 548 feet from the ground to the top of his hat.


Here is the statue on the ground before being placed on top of City Hall in 1894. Gives you an idea of how large this statue is and why it can be seen from miles away. This bronze statue was designed by Alexander Milne Calder (1846-1923) and is the tallest statue on any building in the world. It stands 37 feet tall and weights 53,348 lbs (24,200 kgs / 27 tons.)

Statue Facts


For many years, William Penn atop City Hall was the highest vantage point in the City. It was only recently, even I can remember it, that buildings higher than the William Penn statue were built inside the city.