If you think a memorial is just a big hunk of stone, the architects of the McKinley National Memorial had other plans. They wanted a cross-hilted sword. That was the original vision for the design competition in the early 1900s. The plan was for a massive blade to rise from the earth, with a mausoleum sitting right at the junction of the hilt and the guard.
William McKinley was a local guy - an attorney from Canton who took the presidency and met a quick end in 1901. After he died, his inner circle and a grieving widow teamed up to build him something substantial. They even had school kids hauling in pennies to fund the operation. They raised enough to build a structure that requires 108 steps just to reach the top.
The Long Water, which was supposed to form the handle of the blade, was a five-tiered reflecting pool 575 feet long. By 1951, the State of Ohio completed a major rehabilitation to the site, which included filling in the Long Water. The interior walls of the monument are made of Tennessee marble.
Today, the site is managed by the Stark County Historical Society. You can still see the bronze statue of McKinley inside, created by sculptor Charles Henry Niehaus. The statue depicts McKinley delivering his final public address in Buffalo, New York, based on a photograph taken by White House photographer Frances B. Johnston.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Kyle McLonely
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