Wilmington officials are removing two of the city’s most iconic statues – of Declaration of Independence signer Caesar Rodney and explorer Christopher Columbus – to prevent them from potential damage, and to foster what Mayor Mike Purzycki called “an overdue discussion about the public display of historical figures and events.”

Columbus came down on Friday morning. The bronze statue, made in his native Italy, has been on Pennsylvania Avenue, one of downtown’s western gateways, since 1957. For nearly a century, the bronze Caesar Rodney statue has towered over a square in the heart of downtown named for him.