July 03, 2026
Colleen Claggett/For PhillyVoice
A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Trump administration can install new panels at the President's House exhibit at Sixth and Market streets.
A federal judge ruled Friday that the Trump administration can install new exhibits at the President's House site at Independence National Historical Park in Old City.
The Department of the Interior and the National Park Service have gone head to head with the city in an court battle about the site since January, when the federal government removed panels that acknowledged George Washington kept slaves in Philadelphia while president. On Thursday afternoon, the federal government submitted a request to hang new displays "without further delay," and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia granted the motion on Friday — a federal holiday.
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The city has since filed an appeal and requested a stay, arguing that it was not given enough time to respond to the government's request.
In Thursday's submission, the government said NPS has designed new panels that are "ready to install." It is unclear whether they'll be hung before Philadelphia celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on Saturday.
The President's House exhibit opened in 2010 on the grounds where Washington and John Adams once lived during their presidencies, when Philadelphia was the nation's capital. It tells the story of the nine people enslaved by Washington who were kept in the city illegally.
In January, the exhibit's panels were taken down, without warning, in accordance with a 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump that sought to review displays at national parks and monuments that showed "divisive narratives." The city filed a lawsuit in response, and a federal judge ordered the exhibit to be restored. In June, an appeals court ruled that the federal government does not need to reinstall the initial exhibit.
As the case proceeded, the Trump administration shared some of the texts and images it plans to install. Historians and advocates said the new panels tone down Washington's participation in the slave trade.
