Visitors to Broad Commons Park will see a new monument as they walk or ride along the path that encircles the green space in Doylestown Borough.
A colorful, ceramic tile honoring Libby White, the community’s late mayor and its first woman to hold the office, is embedded in a large boulder there.
White, who died last year on her 87th birthday, was recognized for her service with the handmade tiled plaque when she retired. Her husband, Lou White, asked the borough if it could find an appropriate place to display the distinctive piece, said Phil Ehlinger, deputy borough manager, during a recent meeting.
A boulder the town was given when Bucks County was excavating the site for its new parking garage was chosen as the setting for the plaque, Ehlinger said. Public works crews prepared the stone to hold the unique tile and set it by the side of the park’s walkway.
“The plaque is consistent with the cultural theme that we have across the park,” Ehlinger said. “We will be doing some additional landscaping around it and will be adding flowers.”
Each of the park’s concrete pillars is embedded with Mercer Tiles made at the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown Township.
White served two terms as mayor, from 2006 to 2014. Besides being the town’s first woman mayor, she is believed to be the borough’s first Democratic mayor, at least since the Civil War.
She was instrumental in a number of initiatives, including her role in creating the Central Bucks Regional Police Department, said Borough Manager John Davis, calling it “her most significant legacy,” at the time of her death.
“It was an honor and a pleasure serving with this gracious lady and true trail blazer,” added Davis.
Said Ehlinger when discussing the addition to the park, “It’s a fitting, elegant monument to Mayor White.”
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