National McKinley Birthplace Memorial
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National McKinley Birthplace Memorial
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The Memorial in 2008, undergoing renovation.
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| Location | 40 N. Main Street Niles, Ohio |
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| Coordinates | 41°10′51″N 80°45′58″W / 41.18083°N 80.76611°WCoordinates: 41°10′51″N 80°45′58″W / 41.18083°N 80.76611°W |
| Area | Less than one acre |
| Built | 1915 |
| Architect | McKim, Mead and White |
| Architectural style | Beaux-Arts (exterior) |
| NRHP Reference # | 75001544 |
| Added to NRHP | October 31, 1975 |
The National McKinley Birthplace Memorial Library and Museum is the national memorial to President William McKinley located in Niles, Ohio. Also known as the McKinley Memorial Library, Museum & Birthplace Home, the Memorial is a 232 foot by 136 foot by 38 foot marble monument with two wings. One houses the McKinley Memorial Library, which is a public library. The second wing 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 has been furnished for the period when President McKinley was in office.
On March 4, 1911, President William Howard Taft as Commander-in-Chief, 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 they 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,” like Theodore Roosevelt, Marcus Hanna, Butler, and Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick, the latter two of whom were large contributors to the Memorial’s fund. Upon publication of the Association’s announcement, a competition commenced within the American Institute of Architects.
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