Comments on: Honoring Obama With Park Would Slight Stephen Girard!

By: Evie

Evie — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:45:06 +0000

I followed the links and learned quite a bit about Girard. He seems to have earned keeping his name right where it is. Nice article. It is nice to learn what these names mean. Keep the name Girard. Obama will have much named for him in the future.

By: girard

girard — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:12:53 +0000

my family haves been here for over 500 years and would like our family's name left alone from Obama. thank you fram a family member of the girards.

By: Omar

Omar — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:20:28 +0000

I live at 14th and Girard, and am actually a 2001 graduate of Girard College in Philadelphia.

Name it after Obama! Stephen Girard's legacy will live on because of his great philanthropic actions for children, for Philadelphia, and for this country. Naming it Obama Park would do nothing to denigrate his reputation.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:32:45 +0000

I agree!

Ditching old names for the latest hot thing by politicians always seemed like a low way to try to garner votes to me. They should stop worrying about names and do some real work.

And while I love Obama, let's wait to see what the next 4-8 years bring before we start naming every school, park, street, etc. after him. I say we follow the same tradition that no living president appear on our currency before we get to renaming everything.

As for the previous commenter re: Girard's will you have to look at his will with the light of the historical cultural norms at the time. I'm female and was also excluded from his will. I graduated from Girard College in the 90's, however. I don't begrudge the man for the way his will was written. I am, however, thankful for all that he did for this country and for being unbelievably generous with his wealth.

By: A Possible End to Earmarks: Loose Lips Daily - City Desk - Washington City Paper

A Possible End to Earmarks: Loose Lips Daily - City Desk - Washington City Paper — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:28:48 +0000

[...] IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—”Honoring Obama With Park Would Slight Stephen Girard!” [...]

By: Craig Howell

Craig Howell — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:08:49 +0000

Um, no, actually. I believe his will specified that his school could only be open for white children. It took a major court case to break his will, on the grounds that it violated public policy, so the school could be integrated.