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.HistoryPlanningOn 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.”
