While William Penn is widely regarded as the founder and namesake of Pennsylvania, less people know about the man he inspired, who would later become known as “The Father of Modern Philadelphia,” according to an American INSIGHT post on LinkedIn.
Edmund Bacon, who was born in West Philadelphia, was a well-regarded urban planner and architect.
When he was a young boy, Bacon wrote a letter to the mayor of Philadelphia saying that he wanted to climb to the top of City Hall and stand at the feet of the William Penn statue.
He surprisingly earned a response from the mayor.
Bacon said that standing there allowed him to see Penn’s vision for Philadelphia.
From that point on, he set out to carry out that vision for the city.
His senior thesis at Cornell University focused on the value of Philadelphia have an urban park in the heart of Center City, which is now where LOVE Park is located.
Bacon spent 21 years as executive director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, where he became known as a proponent of urban renewal.
He dreamed of a Philadelphia that was clean, appealing, and symmetrical with houses, businesses, open space, and more. Everything Bacon did during his time was influenced by Penn’s ideas during his.
Read more about “The Father of Modern Philadelphia” at LinkedIn.
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Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on PHILADELPHIA Today in August 2025.
