McKinley Memorial
About this property
The National McKinley Birthplace Memorial is a presidential memorial in Niles, Ohio, built in honor of William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States. Built between 1915 and 1917, it is a 232 by 136 by 38 ft (71 by 41 by 12 m) Beaux-Arts marble monument with two wings. One wing houses a public library, and the other features a museum dedicated to McKinley. The McKinley Birthplace Home and Research Center is located near the memorial. On March 4, 1911, President William Howard Taft authorized Congressional funding for a national memorial to be located in the town of McKinley's birth, Niles, Ohio. 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." 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, Marcus Hanna, Butler, and Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. 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. Edgerton Swartout (formerly with McKim, Mead & White), Charles A. Platt (landscape architect) and Edward Brodhead Green (Albright-Knox Art Gallery) served as judges for the competition. Entries included those from Cass Gilbert (architect of the Woolworth Building), Henry Bacon (designer of the Lincoln Memorial), Harold Van Buren Magonigle (architect of the McKinley National Memorial and Mausoleum), the firm of Palmer, Hornbostel & Jones, J. L. Decker (a local architect) and Zantzinger, Borie & Medary (designers of the Detroit Institute of Arts).
Location
Categories
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 McKinley Memorial listed on the National Register?
McKinley Memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 31, 1975.
What type of historic resource is McKinley Memorial?
McKinley Memorial is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for McKinley Memorial?
The period of significance for McKinley Memorial is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near McKinley Memorial?
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