Hello
once again, and welcome back to our Guide to the National Park Service. In this post we will be visiting the starting
point of the administration of the great patron of the National Parks,
President Theodore Roosevelt.
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| Entrance sign |
BACKGROUND:
In
September of 1901, tragedy struck the United States. While attending the Pan-American Exposition,
a celebration of the nation and technological progress, in Buffalo, New York,
President William McKinley was gunned down by a radical anarchist. Suddenly, the young, dynamic, and charismatic
Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt, was thrust into the highest office in the
land. Having been summoned to Buffalo,
Roosevelt spent the night at the house of Ansley Wilcox, a prominent Buffalo
resident, before taking the oath of office on September 14th 1901 in
the Wilcox house’s library.
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| The Ansley Wilcox house |
THE SITE:
The
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site consists of the Ansley
Wilcox house in Buffalo New York, not far from downtown. Remarkably, it is the only building or site
remaining from the events surrounding the assassination of President William
McKinley. Even so, the house was lucky to survive, having been turned into a
restaurant and nearly demolished in the 1960s before being saved by a civic
campaign and added to the National Park Service in 1970.
The
lower floor of the house, in particular the library where Theodore Roosevelt
took the oath of office, has been restored to its 1901 appearance. A modern addition to the side of the house
acts a visitor center for the site, and there are interactive exhibits on the
second floor.
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| The library of the Wilcox home |
TRAVEL TIPS:
Theodore
Roosevelt National Historic Site is located on Delaware Street in Buffalo, New
York, a less than five-minute drive from Niagara Square at the center of
downtown Buffalo. Parking is located in
the rear of the building. The site is open year-round
except for major holidays, from 9am-5pm (8pm on Tuesdays) during the week and
noon to 5pm on weekends. Guided tours
scheduled every hour take visitors through the house, the highlight being a
radio show style reenactment of Roosevelt taking the oath of office in the
library. The site is handicapped
accessible. Passport stamps are located
at the front desk in the visitor center area.
We
hoped you enjoyed this brief overview of the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National
Historic Site. Our next update will
focus on a site associated with our first President, George Washington, and the
events that led him down the path to his destiny; Fort Necessity National
Battlefield.
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:
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| A second view of the Wilcox library |
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| A statue of Theodore Roosevelt on the front lawn of the Wilcox house |
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