The National McKinley Birthplace Memorial Library and Museum is a national memorial to President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

, located in

Niles, Ohio Niles is a city in Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. The population was 18,443 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located at the confluence of the Mahoning River and Mosquito Creek Lake, Mosquito Creek, Niles is a suburb in the Ma ...

. Also known as the McKinley Memorial Library, Museum & Birthplace Home, the memorial is a marble monument with two wings. One wing houses the public McKinley Memorial Library, and the other features the McKinley Museum with exhibits about President McKinley and an auditorium. The McKinley Birthplace Home and Research Center is located near the Memorial at 40 South Main Street in Niles. The

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that is preserved as a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a variety of ...

has been furnished for the period when President McKinley was in office.

History

Planning

On March 4, 1911, President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

authorized Congressional funding for a national memorial to be located in the town of McKinley's birth,

."Want $100,000 for McKinley Memorial," ''The New York Times''. 28 June 1914. The same act of Congress had also officially established the National McKinley Birthplace Association. Association president Joseph G. Butler, Jr., who had been a childhood friend and schoolmate of McKinley, began a $100,000 local campaign to raise funds for the memorial in 1912. After securing nearly $200,000 for the memorial without utilizing taxpayer funding, Butler and the association sought public donations of $1 each to establish a permanent endowment. "Subscribers" (as the donors were called) would receive a book autographed by Butler "describing the work of the Memorial" that also contained a reproduction portrait of McKinley and "a facsimile of the act of Congress authorizing and commending the construction of the Birthplace Memorial."

Competition and design

The Association had its own ideas for the memorial's general design when it announced plans to offer a prize for the best architectural proposal in 1914. The city of Niles had already set aside a five-acre park as a location for the memorial (purchased with municipal funds), and the association stipulated that the design would be for a granite two-story structure with a basement, and that the structure must include a 1,000-seat auditorium (the "main feature"), a public library, a "relic room" for display of assorted effects, "an assembly hall for meetings of the veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic, where State encampments may be held, and for Spanish–American War Veterans, and a room for the meetings of officials of the city." Additionally, the association specified that the memorial would house not only a statue of McKinley, but also "bronze busts of men associated with him in the affairs of the nation," such as those of

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

, Marcus Hanna, Butler, and

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

and

Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company and played a major ...

. Carnegie and Frick were large contributors to the memorial's fund. Upon publication of the association's announcement, a competition commenced within the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...

. Edgerton Swartout (formerly with

McKim, Mead & White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm based in New York City. The firm came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in ''fin de siècle'' New York. The firm's founding partners, Cha ...

Charles A. Platt Charles Adams Platt (October 16, 1861 – September 12, 1933) was an American architect, garden designer, and artist of the " American Renaissance" movement. His garden designs complemented his domestic architecture. Early career Painting and ...

(landscape architect) and

Edward Brodhead Green Edward Brodhead Green (May 10, 1855 – February 2, 1950), very often referred to as E. B. Green, was a major American architect from New York state. Early life and education Green was born in Utica, New York, on May 10, 1855. He attended Corn ...

(

Albright-Knox Art Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum located adjacent to Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York, United States. The museum shows modern art and contemporary art. It is directly opposite Buff ...

) served as judges for the competition. Entries included those from

Cass Gilbert Cass Gilbert (November 24, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was an American architect. An early proponent of Early skyscrapers, skyscrapers, his works include the Woolworth Building, the United States Supreme Court building, the state capitols of Minneso ...

(architect of the

Woolworth Building The Woolworth Building is a residential building and early skyscraper at 233 Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the Tribeca neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Cass Gilbert, it was the tallest building in the world f ...

Henry Bacon Henry Bacon (November 28, 1866February 16, 1924) was an American Beaux-Arts architect who oversaw the engineering and design of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., built between 1915 and 1922, which was his final project before his 1924 ...

(designer of the

Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a List of national memorials of the United States, U.S. national memorial honoring Abraham Lincoln, the List of presidents of the United States, 16th president of the United States, located on the western end of the Nati ...

Harold Van Buren Magonigle Harold Van Buren Magonigle (1867–1935) was an American architect, artist, and author best known for his memorials. He achieved his greatest success as a designer of monuments, but his artistic practices included sculpture, painting, writing, ...

(architect of the

McKinley National Memorial The McKinley National Memorial in Canton, Ohio, United States, is the final resting place of William McKinley, who served as the 25th president of the United States from 1897 to his assassination in 1901. Canton was a significant place in McKin ...

and Mausoleum), the firm of Palmer, Hornbostel & Jones, J. L. Decker (a local architect) and

Zantzinger, Borie & Medary Zantzinger, Borie and Medary was an American architecture firm that operated from 1905 to 1950 in Philadelphia. It specialized in institutional and civic projects. For most of its existence, the partners were Clarence C. Zantzinger, Charles Loui ...

(designers of the

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a museum institution located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has list of largest art museums, one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it cove ...

). The competition was concluded in 1915, and the $1,000 prize was awarded to McKim, Mead, & White. Their design, somewhat typical of their other Beaux-Arts work, reflected Greek and Roman themes in all aspects, from architectural elements to the lettering on tablets and statuary. Indeed, the entire memorial was described as would be a temple of antiquity, with McKinley assuming the role of "household god": : "Seen from the approach on Main Street, the building will be dominated by its central feature, a colonnade or propylaea leading into a court of honor. :It is this court, the atrium of the old Roman palaces where the statue of the household god stood, which is to be the climax of the entire structure." The library was divided into two stories, with space for open stacks and meeting rooms, including one reserved for McKinley memorabilia. McKinley's statue, by

J. Massey Rhind John Massey Rhind (9 July 1860 – 1 January 1936) was a Scottish-American sculptor. Among Rhind's better known works is the Stephenson Grand Army of the Republic Memorial and the marble statue of Dr. Crawford W. Long, located in the Natio ...

, originally conceived as a bronze monument, was carved from a single 35-ton piece of marble."Says M'Kinley Saw Our World Position: Taft, at Dedication of Memorial at Niles, Ohio, Extols Predecessor's Foresight," ''The New York Times''. 6 October 1917.

Construction

The cornerstone of the memorial was laid on November 20, 1915, and an inscribed plaque on it read "Erected 1915. To Perpetuate the Name and Achievements of William McKinley, Twenty-fifth President of the United States of America. Born January 29, 1843. Died September 14, 1901." The

United States Marine Band The United States Marine Band is the premier band of the United States Marine Corps. Established by act of Congress on July 11, 1798, it is the oldest of the United States military bands and the oldest professional musical organization in the ...

played "

On the Beautiful Blue Danube "The Blue Danube" is the common English title of "An der schönen blauen Donau", Op. 314 (German for "By the Beautiful Blue Danube"), a waltz by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II, composed in 1866. Originally performed on 15 Februar ...

" (a favorite of Mrs. McKinley's) and "

Lead Kindly Light "Lead, Kindly Light, Amid the encircling gloom" is a hymn with words written in 1833 by John Henry Newman as a poem titled "the Pillar of the Cloud", which was first published in the ''Hugh James Rose, British Magazine'' in 1834'','' and republis ...

" (reportedly a hymn sung at McKinley's deathbed) after a parade of organizations to which McKinley belonged proceeded down Niles' Main Street. John H. Parker Co. of New York oversaw the site's construction. Despite the National McKinley Birthplace Association's specification for a

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

structure, Georgia marble was used instead.

Dedication

Former President Taft (also an Ohio native), in a speech endorsing American involvement in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, praised McKinley at the memorial's dedication ceremonies on October 5, 1917. McKinley's sister Helen unveiled her brother's 12-foot statue.

Myron T. Herrick Myron Timothy Herrick (October 9, 1854March 31, 1929) was an American banker, diplomat and Republican politician from Ohio. He served as the 42nd governor of Ohio and United States Ambassador to France on two occasions. Biography Herrick was bo ...

George B. Cortelyou George Bruce Cortelyou (July 26, 1862October 23, 1940) was an American Cabinet of the United States, cabinet secretary of the early twentieth century. He served in various capacities in the presidential administrations of Grover Cleveland, Willi ...

and Butler also spoke during the ceremonies. The McKinley Birthplace Memorial gold dollar was minted to finance the construction of the memorial.

Current status

The McKinley Memorial Library is open to the public six days a week and closed on Sundays and on certain holidays. The McKinley Memorial Museum is also open to the public Tuesday to Friday with no admission charge.

Rehabilitation

In 2008, the memorial underwent renovation to clean and repair the marble façade.

References

External links

McKinley Memorial Library at the National McKinley Birthplace Memorial

McKinley Birthplace Museum at the National McKinley Birthplace Memorial
{{authority control 1915 establishments in Ohio 1915 sculptures McKinley, William Historic house museums in Ohio Houses in Trumbull County, Ohio Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Marble sculptures in the United States Monuments and memorials in Ohio Museums in Trumbull County, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Trumbull County, Ohio Niles, Ohio

McKinley McKinley may refer to: People *McKinley (name), a page for people with the surname and given name "McKinley" **William McKinley, 25th president of the United States. Places Philippines * Fort William McKinley (now Fort Bonifacio) in Metro Ma ...

Presidential museums in Ohio Sculptures of men in Ohio Statues in Ohio McKinley, William