Wind Topples 160-Year-Old Benjamin Franklin Statue on Boston’s Freedom Trail

High winds in the Boston area on Sunday kicked up a gust powerful enough to knock over a 160-year-old statue of Benjamin Franklin.

Bonnie McGilpin, spokeswoman for Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, said high winds pushed a tent into the statue, causing it to fall off its pedestal.

“It is being inspected now and then we should have more details to share,” McGilpin said in an e-mail according to the Boston Globe. “The Boston Art Commission is working with a professional curator on the repair plan.”

McGilpin said city officials believe the bronze statue was knocked over sometime around 1 p.m, adding that, thankfully, no one was injured.

One pedestrian snapped and shared a photo of the statue after it had been wrapped in a bag.

After tumbling off his pedestal, this #FoundingFather has been wrapped and bagged, Old City Hall. #benjaminfranklin pic.twitter.com/SA1DIMFZKk

— Joe Pesaturo (@JoePesaturo) May 16, 2016

According to Karin Goodfellow, executive director of the Boston Art Commission, it could take a month to repair the damage to the statue and the cracked cement where Franklin’s head landed.

The Benjamin Franklin statue marks the location of the original Boston Latin School, the oldest public school in the nation.

The Freedom Trail Foundation website says Franklin was once a Boston Latin School student, noting that he did not graduate.

“Ben Franklin, though one of America’s greatest minds, is also one of its most notable dropouts,” the website says.

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson