Chestnut Hill resident Bill Rooney was passing by when he saw the renovations underway.

“It feels like history is being made all over again,” he said. “Erasing that history is a step backwards. It wasn’t right.”

Celeste Morello, who was walking her dog near the site, said she had some concerns about the quality of the panels’ historical content even before they were removed. Morello, a local historian who has worked on more than 40 Pennsylvania historical markers throughout the city, said the subject of slavery should be written for an adult audience, not an elementary school level.

“Slavery itself is appropriate here, but the subject of slavery is very abstract,” she said. “We don’t expect kids to understand. So why is the content on these panels all set at an elementary school level? This is adult content, and adults can understand it.”

But for Jasmine Gutierrez, a visitor from Lakeland, Florida, it was an opportunity to educate her two children, ages 8 and 11. she recalled them asking.

Gutierrez called the exhibit’s removal “an active attempt to erase history.” She said she wants her children to know they have a voice. “We can’t sit around and do nothing.”