August 17, 2016

The bronze statue of Tony Drexel is created by Moses Ezekiel in 1904 and originally placed in Fairmount Park, since Tony was the first president of the Fairmount Park Art Association (today’s Association for Public Art). Kenneth G. Matheson, Drexel’s president from 1922 through 1931, was reported by his son (later a Drexel dean himself) to have snapped to attention before the statue when passing through Fairmount Park, saluting it as he had seen Alexander Van Rensselaer (Tony’s son-in-law) do before. The statue is relocated to 33rd and Market streets (pictured) for the University’s 75th anniversary in 1966. The statue relocated again in 2003 to its present site overlooking the pedestrian plaza at 32nd and Market streets.