Niles, Ohio
Former President William McKinley is mostly known for his actions in the city of Canton, where he earned his law degree and ran his Front Porch campaign. That’s also where his memorial and Presidential Library and Museum reside.
However, there’s another place in Ohio dedicated to the President: his birthplace home and library in Niles. In fact, there are three different structures, all within feet of each other on North Main Street in Niles.
The National McKinley Birthplace Memorial
The National McKinley Birthplace Memorial is hard to miss. It’s a Greek-inspired structure complete with marble columns and a statue of McKinley at the center. Surrounding it are busts of other important people, mostly Ohioans, like fellow former Presidents Warren G. Harding and William Howard Taft.
Dedicated in 1917, ten years after the McKinley monument in Canton, the building was designed by McKim, Mead and White, who designed a number of well-known buildings, like New York City’s Penn Station.
The monument measures an impressive 232 feet long by 136 wide by 38 ft deep. It centers two wings, which brings us to the next part of the overall memorial, the museum.
The McKinley Birthplace Museum
One wing of the building is a standard library, operating as the official Public Library of Niles. The other is a museum, filled with items that either belonged to McKinley or are from his campaign. These include buttons, pins, memorial plates, and framed posters.
The McKinley Birthplace Home and Research Center
Across a side street is the last part of the McKinley trifecta in Niles, the McKinley Home and Research Center. The two-story building was supposed to look like the one that McKinley was born in (the original home burned down in 1937), but it’s slightly larger.
The building houses a research center, presentation and meeting space, and of course, more artifacts related to McKinley’s life and presidency.
Although William McKinley only lived in Niles for nine years (he moved to Poland, Ohio in 1852 with his family), you can see the mark left behind in the monument, birthplace museum, and library.
Sources
- McKinley Memorial Library
- The National McKinley Birthplace Monument and Museum
- McKinley Birthplace Home and Research Center
- The McKinley Birthplace Memorial Museum
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