McKinley Birthplace Home pamphlet.

Publication

McKinley Birthplace Museum

Name/Title

Entry/Object ID

2016.2.88

Description

Front McKinley Birthplace Home The McKinley Birthplace Home is a replica pf the home in which President William McKinley was bron on January 29, 1843. The replica home is located on the site where the original McKinley home once stood. William McKinley, Sr. and Nancy Allison McKinley and their six children moved into their new home in the early 1840s, William McKinley, Sr. had purchased the lot for their home from James Heaton, founder of Niles. The McKinley... Page 2 ... home was built on a newly platted section of South Maine Street in Niles. The home that the McKinley family moved into was smaller than the home that appears in history book pictures. The first pictures, the house in the 1890s, show that a store was added to it. The size of the original house can be determined by studying photographs of the house when it was moved to McKinley Heights in the early 1900s. The original home had demensions of 14' by 30'. The house's architecture was considered to be from western Pennsylvania since both William and Nancy McKinley's families had come to Ohio from western Pennsylvania. The house itself, more than likely, had eight rooms: four rooms each on the first floor and second floor. On the first floor, the rooms included a formal parlor, informal parlor, a formal dining room, and a kitchen. The formal parlor would have been the room in which the McKinleys would have entertained their guests such as the local minister, neighbors, or William McKinley's business associates. The informal parlor would have been... Page 3 ... the hub of the family's life. This is where the McKinley family would have gathered in the evenings to read, sew, quilt, or play games. The formal dining room would have been where the McKinley family would have gathered for formal occasions to eat. This is where Christmas or Easter dinner would have been eaten. The formal dining room would have been the site of many joyous family celebrations. The kitchen would have been where Mrs. McKinley and her daughters would have cooked the meals. The centerpiece of the kitchen would have been the black iron stove. Since William McKinley, Sr. was in the iron business, the family would have had one of the early iron stoves. The meals would have been simple and delicious. There would have been a table for the family to at on a daily basis. There were four bedrooms upstairs: one for the parents, one for the four boys, another for the four girls, and the fourth for Mrs. McKinley's widowed mother, Ann Allison, who lived with the family for a period of time. President McKinley was the first of the three McKinley children to... Page 4 ... be born in Niles. His young sister, Abagail, died in infancy and was the only one of the McKinley children to be buried in the Niles Union Cemetery. Unfortunately, there are no original furnishing that belonged to the McKinleys when they lived in the home in Niles. There are also no photographs of the interior of the house that would have guided the McKinley Memorial Library Board and staff to define the type and style of furniture that would have been found in the rooms of the house. The furniture that has been placed in the rooms was chosen to represent how a typical home of the period was furnished. The most striking feature of the home is the center staircase. Photos of it can be found in pictures of the house from when the house was put back together again in McKinley Heights. The McKinley family was quite active in the community of Niles. Mrs. McKinley was a homemaker. William McKinley, Sr. served as treasurer of the local school district. The McKinleys were Methodists; they were actually among the founders of the Niles First United Methodist Church. Page 5 Young William attended a oneroom schoolhouse where one of his older classmates was Joseph Butler. William's chores included tending and milking the family cow. He enjoyed playing soldier (especially during the Mexican War), reading, and swimming in Mosquito Creek. The McKinley family moved to Poland in 1852 where the education opportunities were better for the children. William McKinley, Sr. continued to commute to Niles to operate his iron furnace. The home itself became the Benedict General Store. In the 1890s, the McKinley Birthplace Home was split in two. Part of the home went to Riverside Park located on Salt Springs Road. The home back to the alley where it became the first manufacturing facility for the Harris Automatic Press Company until 1900. Miss Lulu Mackey purchased both sections of the house in 1910 and moved the house to Tibbet's Corners, which was later renamed McKinley Heights. Miss Mackey operated the home as a birthplace memorial to President McKinley until the 1930s. Declining attendance led to the house being closed... Page 6 ... to the public. Vagrants and vandals started staying in the house. Vandals burned the house down on April 3, 1937. The original site of the McKinley home had two bank buildings erected on it. When McKinley Federal Bank closed its doors in the early 1990s as the result of a bank merger, McKinley Memorial Library worked with National City Bank to have the bank building donated to the City of Niles. The City of Niles obtained funds from the State of Ohio to demolish the bank building. After the bank was demolished, the City of Niles donated President McKinley's birthplace site to McKinley Memorial Library. Construction of the McKinley Birthplace Home and Research Center began in the spring of 2002.

Collection

Blaney

Acquisition

Accession

2016.2.0

Source or Donor

Eileen B. Blaney

Acquisition Method

Gift