McKinleyHouseMuseum

PO1.697A Photograph dated 1896	McKinley House and Museum. In 1890 the land upon which McKinley’s house stood on Main Street, was needed as a site for the City National Bank (later McKinley bank) It was not known who undertook and financed the project, but McKinley’s house was cut in two and the part in which McKinley had been born was moved to Riverside Park, some time after 1896, possibly as a museum attraction. The second half of the house was moved to Franklin alley and used as a shop where the Harris rotary offset presses were made.	PO1.550

PO1.918	In 1894 the Riverside Park Company constructed a dam across the Meander Creek so as to enlarge the boating area. They stocked the water with fish in the hopes of attracting the serious anglers By 1901 the Riverside Park proved to be unprofitable and the owners, William Allison, Clement Souder, Frances Thomas, E. A. Hartzell, Maggie Hartzell, S. S. Holeton, and Selina Holeton, sold the property to Buckeye Leather Company for $1,700.	PO1.697

During the late 1890's, after McKinley had been elected President , an effort was made to preserve his birthplace. We do not know who undertook the responsibility or expense, but the house was cut in two. The part the president had been born in was moved to Riverside Park .PO1.709	Photo of the McKinley birthplace in its location at Riverside Park (corner of Salt Springs and Rte. 46 in Mineral Ridge). PO1.1626	With the demise of the amusement park, the McKinley house was occupied by tenants on the Riverside Park site until 1908. PO1.708

PO1.698	In 1909 Mrs. Joseph Wess, the former Lulu Mackey, the first female member of the Trumbull County bar, decided to buy the house and restore it as nearly as possible. Miss Mackey had it moved by Frank Kramer to her property at McKinley Heights. She purchased the other section and had it moved as well, then proceeded to create a privately-owned museum which she operated until her death in 1934.	PO1.700

SO1.712	The museum was located on the Tibbetts property where the McKinley Heights Plaza is today at the intersection of Routes 422 and 169 ( Route 169 is still referred to as Tibbetts-Wick Road). After the new National McKinley Memorial opened in 1917, people still visited this museum to see some of the original McKinley furniture and artifacts collected by Lulu Mackey.	PO1.694

A postcard of the interior of the McKinley House showcasing the fireplace, surrounded with woodwork of black walnut. PO1.705	A view of one of the interior bedrooms in the original McKinley Birthplace museum in the 1920's. PO1.1903	Interior view of the law office situated in the McKinley Museum on the Tibbetts property in McKinley Heights in the 1920's.

McKinley Heights Museum, 1927.	After falling into disrepair, vandals burned the structure and it was destroyed on April 3, 1937. PO1.699	All that remained of the McKinley Birthplace in McKinley Heights after the fire on April 3, 1937. PO1.712

The home was built in 1806 by Gideon Hughes, the founder of the Rebecca Jane furnace in Lisbon, Ohio. PO1.714 In 1809, James McKinley, the president's grandfather, migrated from Pennsylvania to this house in New Lisbon, Ohio. It was here the president's father grew up. He married Nancy Allison in 1829 and sometime during the 1830's moved his family to Niles.	A postcard asking for donations for the restoration of McKinley's birthplace by Mr. and Mrs. Wess as the Mt. Vernon of Ohio. From the collection of Lulu Mackey Wess. PO1.2317	In 2010 a new replica of the McKinley birthplace was constructed on the original site on South Main Street in Downtown Niles, Ohio. The building functions as a museum and research center.