McKinley Presidential Library & Museum

Ohio's 25th President

An education center for history and science, in honor of the 25th President of the United States.

The McKinley Presidential Library and Museum is many things: A memorial to an Ohio president, a presidential library and archive, and an interactive science museum and planetarium. Exhibits in the museum showcase the largest collection of McKinley artifacts in the world, interpret Stark County history, and display the majesty of outer space.

William McKinley, 25th President of the United States, served in office from 1897 to 1901. Soon after being elected to a second term, he was assassinated while he was greeting the public at the Pan-American Exposition at the Buffalo, New York. Within days, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed a board of trustees to devise a fitting memorial to the slain president. Although born in Niles, President McKinley made his home and built a career in Canton. At one time, he had proposed to build a monument to soldiers and sailors of Stark County on the site of would become his own presidential memorial. Using building materials from nine states, the impressive monument was dedicated in 1907. William and Ida McKinley rest in a pair of marble sarcophagi in the center of the memorial’s rotunda.