Ten Commandments plaque donated to Quaker Foundation

NEW PHILADELPHIA ‒ A plaque displaying the Ten Commandments that once hung in Welty Middle School has been donated to the Quaker Foundation.

The New Philadelphia Board of Education voted Monday to donate the plaque, which was removed from the middle school four years ago after a complaint from a Wisconsin organization that advocates for separation of church and state.

More on plaque:Freedom From Religion Foundation objects to Ten Commandments at Welty Middle School

"The Quaker Foundation maintains a lot of historical memorabilia from New Philadelphia City Schools, and we felt like that would be an appropriate location for that plaque at this point," Superintendent Amy Wentworth said.

The plaque was a gift of the New Philadelphia High School Class of 1926 to the district in 1927.

It hung on the wall near the auditorium entrance to the building until 2019 when the district received a complaint about it from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The group said it told the district that it was well-settled law that public schools may not advance or endorse religion.

Rather than go to court and risk spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend the plaque, school district officials had it removed.

Taking it down:Ten Commandments plaque removed from Welty Middle School

The issue garnered national attention at the time, with Fox News and the Christian Broadcasting Network running stories on it. Christian evangelist Franklin Graham also tweeted about it: "This plaque of the Ten Commandments had been displayed at Joseph Welty Middle School for over 90 years ‒ it was given by the class of 1926! But now, because of a threat from the atheist group @FFRF, it has been taken down. Unbelievable."

Trent Troyer, president of the Quaker Foundation board, said the organization is working to arrange delivery of the plaque to its office at 124 N. Broadway.

"The Quaker Foundation office in downtown New Philadelphia has a lot of historical artifacts from the school system that go way back into the 1800s," he said. "When we have opportunities to get artifacts from the schools, we will take those for historical purposes and then we do display them on a rotational basis at the foundation office. This would be a similar circumstance.

"Rather than letting it collect dust, we're just taking it for those historical purposes."

Reach Jon at 330-364-8415 or at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Ten Commandments plaque given to New Philadelphia Quaker Foundation