Biden Square? Wilmington looks to honor Delaware’s only president at park where enslaver Caesar Rodney’s statue once stood

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Now that Wilmington officials have publicly declared that they don’t want the famous Caesar Rodney equestrian statue back, they’re looking to use the downtown square to honor Delaware’s favorite son.

That would be Joe Biden, the only president of the United States ever to call Delaware home.

While plans for renovating and perhaps renaming Rodney Square are still in the formulative stages, a top aide to Wilmington Mayor John Carney said one concept is to celebrate the 83-year-old Biden with his own statue.

“It’s a name, it’s a statue, it’s a plaque. It could be a variety of things,” Deputy Chief of Staff Daniel Walker said this week in the city’s first public comments about the administration’s vision for the future of the 1.5-acre grassy park that has been a city landmark since 1921.

Beyond recognizing Biden in a monumental way, Walker said, officials want to use the marquee space to tell “the complete story of civil rights, independence, freedom.”

“But we do think it’s important to recognize and honor the president that is from our state,” he added.

Walker said the city doesn’t have a timetable to decide but has formed a working group to hammer out a plan to present to Wilmington City Council for its approval.

“Some people want a Biden Plaza at Rodney Square, some people want a statue, some people want a plaque, some people want to rename it, maybe not Biden, but renaming the square in its entirety to something else,” Walker said. “And so, there are different opinions floating about.”

The popular square is bordered by Market, King, 10th and 11th streets and surrounded by office buildings and the Wilmington Public Library. It’s used for concerts, festivals, a weekly farmers market and other community events.

The statue of Rodney on his horse was placed atop a set of wide stairs in the square named after him in 1923. The bronze structure commemorates his 1776 overnight ride from his home in Dover to Philadelphia to cast Delaware’s decisive vote for the Declaration of Independence.

But Carney’s predecessor, Mike Purzycki, had the statue taken down in June 2020, during Black Lives Matters protests and racial unrest that swept Wilmington and other cities, following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Purzycki had said at the time he feared the Wilmington treasure would be damaged because Rodney was a slaveowner. The statue was put in storage and stayed there until this past April, when it was sent to Washington, D.C., for a six-month stint in Freedom Plaza near the White House.

Wilmington officials are currently in discussions with the state and Kent County leaders to have the statue relocated to the Dover area. No destination has been selected, but Walker said the city has no plans to restore Rodney to his former perch. Last month, the city released a report that details Rodney’s direct enslavement of at least 26 Black men, women and children.

Biden’s post-presidential office did not respond to a request for comment on the city’s intent to transform the prominent square to largely honor him.

Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden moved with his family as a child to Delaware, where he attended Archmere Academy and the University of Delaware. His half-century in elective politics included two years as a New Castle County councilman, 36 years as U.S. senator, eight years as vice president and one term as president from 2021 to 2025.

Biden lives in the Greenville area just west of Wilmington and also has a home near Rehoboth Beach. This week, he released this video about his presidential memoir, which will be available in November. In addition, he said his treatment for an aggressive form of prostate cancer is “going really well.”

Several facilities and institutions in Delaware already bear Biden’s name, including a rest stop on I-95, and he plans to locate his presidential library in his home state, though the location has not yet been decided.

In Wilmington, the Joseph R. Biden Jr. Railroad Station south of downtown commemorates his decades of daily commutes to the nation’s capital as senator.

In addition, the swimming pool in the city’s northeast section where he worked as a teenager is now the Joseph R. Biden Jr. Aquatic Center.

‘Anything with Joe and civil rights is fine with me’

Carney, the former Delaware governor who once worked for Biden’s U.S. Senate office, would not agree to an interview about the ideas his administration is exploring to pay tribute to his political mentor.

But former Wilmington Mayor Jim Baker told WHYY News that months ago Carney posed this question to him: “What do you think about changing the name of Rodney Square to Biden Square?”

Baker, who was mayor for three four-year terms before Purzycki was elected in 2016, said he suggested “Rodney-Biden Square’’ to avoid blowback from residents who want to retain some nod to Rodney and his patriotic ride, but eventually agreed that naming it solely for Biden was acceptable.

Baker said the city could commission a plaque above the pedestal once occupied by Rodney and his horse that could include mentions of “all the big different periods’’ in U.S. and/or Delaware history, including Rodney’s historic ride.

“You ought to have a design on it but it ought to be something that covers everybody,” Baker said. “Something that is talking about freedom and liberty and justice.’’

As for Biden, Baker said, “I figured that his statue would be better off at the center of the square, just as an honor to him as the only Delawarean to have been president of the United States.”

City Councilwoman Zanthia Oliver, whose district includes Rodney Square, said she wholeheartedly supports having it renovated to honor Biden, and even renamed Biden Square.

“I mean, he was our president,” Oliver said. “I would support some language up there about civil flights also. Anything with Joe and civil rights would be fine with me.”

Oliver said she’s heard no opposition from any of the 13 members of City Council, all of whom are Democrats, like Biden and Carney.

“I look forward to seeing the square” with a statue or other tribute to Biden, she said. “I’m looking forward to more foot traffic coming through there and giving us something to look at. I think he deserves it.”

Councilwoman Shané Darby said she’s in support, though she’s more focused on Rodney’s statue not returning and stripping the square of his name.

“I’m not a big fan of naming something after Biden, but I think the proposed idea is better than honoring Caesar Rodney,” Darby said. “I do not want the Caesar Rodney statue in Wilmington and I’m looking forward to a name change. So I’m open to that conversation.”

State Sen. Eric Buckson, R-Dover, who spearheaded the notion of moving Rodney’s statue back to Kent County, where his family owned an 849-acre plantation, applauded Wilmington for its new vision.

“Regardless of your political affiliation or support of all things that Joe Biden has done as a public servant,” Buckson said, “it’s undeniable that his impact on Delaware should be honored.’’