About this property
The Harding Tomb is the burial location of the 29th President of the United States, Warren G. Harding and First Lady Florence Kling Harding. It is located in Marion, Ohio. Also known as the Harding Memorial, it was the last of the elaborate presidential tombs. Shortly after Harding died in office, the Harding Memorial Association formed to raise money for a memorial site in honor of the late president. The association ultimately received $978,000 in donations from more than one million people across the country, as well as contributions from several European nations. Among the list of contributors from the United States were an estimated 200,000 school children, who donated pennies towards the memorial. The tomb is located in Marion, Ohio, at the southeast corner of Vernon Heights Boulevard and Delaware Avenue, just south of Marion Cemetery. Construction began in 1926 and finished in the early winter of 1927. It is designed in the style of a circular Greek temple with Doric order marble columns. The columns are built of Georgia white marble and are 28 feet (8.5 m) high and 5 feet (1.5 m) in diameter at the base. Designed by Henry Hornbostel, Eric Fisher Wood and Edward Mellon, the winners of a 1925 national design competition, the structure is 103 feet (31 m) in diameter and 53 feet (16 m) in height. The structure is unroofed (peribolus), in the style of some Greek temples in which the center (Hypaethros) was open to the sky and without a roof (medium autem sub diva est sine tecto). The open design honors the Hardings' wishes that they be buried outside, and is covered in ivy and other plantings. At their deaths, the bodies of the Hardings were entombed in the Marion Cemetery Receiving Vault. Once the Harding Memorial was completed in 1927, the bodies were reinterred in the Memorial's sarcophagus and it was sealed. Because Harding's reputation was damaged by personal controversies and presidential scandals, the Harding Memorial was not officially dedicated until 1931 when President Herbert Hoover presided. I DEEM it a privilege to join here in the dedication of the tomb of Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States. This beautiful monument, erected by the voluntary subscriptions of the people, symbolizes their respect for his memory. ... Warren G. Harding came from the people. Born just at the close of the Civil War, it became his responsibility to lead the Republic in a period of reconstruction from another great war in which our democracy had again demonstrated its unalterable resolve to withstand encroachment upon its independence and to deserve the respect of the world. We cannot too often emphasize the difficulties to accomplishment which Warren Harding met in his task. ...
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Harding Tomb listed on the National Register?
Harding Tomb was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 15, 1976.
What type of historic resource is Harding Tomb?
Harding Tomb is classified as a structure in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Harding Tomb?
The period of significance for Harding Tomb is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Harding Tomb?
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