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President McKinley was speaking to a large and enthusiastic crowd at St. James Park in San Jose, California, on May 13, 1901.
Among those in attendance was 76-six-year-old German immigrant George Zehnder from the northern California city of Arcata, who traveled 324 miles to hear McKinley. Zehnder was a millionaire rancher, and he was described as a stalwart Republican. He had the opportunity to personally meet McKinley after the speech, and Zehnder was very impressed with him.
Zehnder was devastated by the death of McKinley four months later. He considered McKinley to be "the first modern president."
Arcata was developing a plaza or park in the center of the downtown area in the early 1900s. There was a gazebo in the center of the plaza that was used for band concerts. Zehnder proposed to Arcata government officials in 1905 that he would donate a statue of President McKinley to be located where the gazebo now stood. Arcata government officials agreed to Zehnder's proposal.
Zehnder commissioned noted San Francisco sculptor Haig Patigian to create the sculpture in 1905. Patigian was to be paid $15,000 (the equivalent of $441,641.63 in 2020 dollars) by Zehnder.
Patigian immediately started to work on the sculpture. He had just completed the sculpture when the April 18, 1906, 7.9-magnitude San Francisco earthquake struck. The freshly forged McKinley statue sat inside a burning iron works. Patigian rushed to the iron works, and he was unable to save the statue himself. He left thinking that the statue had been destroyed by the fire.
The residents of Arcata, having heard nothing from Patigian, felt that the statue had been destroyed by the fires that engulfed San Francisco. Twelve days after the earthquake, Patigian sent a telegram to George Zehnder stating that the statue had been saved. Zehnder is said to have "wept for joy" upon receiving the telegram.
The San Francisco Examiner reported on how the statue was saved. "A passing employee of the works saw that the statue would be ruined and called the other workmen who were saving their own belongings: 'Come on boys, let's save the statue of Bill McKinley,' he cried, and under his inspiration the workmen bore a ready hand. They dragged the heroic figure to the center of street where it remained unharmed, resting on its back with an outstretched hand pointing to the sky. Many who passed during the week and saw the statue in the street shook the hand and said 'Good boy, McKinley!'"
The statue made its way by steamboat to Arcata and arrived in May 1906. The eight-and-a-half foot bronze statue was installed where the now demolished gazebo once stood. A crowd of 2,000 attended the dedication of the statue on July 4, 1906.
By the 1950s, the statue had been losing the respect that it had when it was first installed. The community dressed the McKinley statue during some Christmas seasons as Santa Claus. Other Christmases, McKinley was dressed as a choir boy. There are photographs of McKinley holding up the plaza's Christmas light display, and the statue was holding a bell. The statue had its thumb removed by vandals in 2003.
There were others in Arcata who wanted the statue removed for a variety of reasons. Some wanted the gazebo to return. Some felt that the statue should be removed because McKinley was an imperialist and he had repressive policies toward the Native Americans.
The Arcata City Council throughout the years debated the fate of the statue. The council, by a 4-to-1 margin in February 2018, voted to remove the statue. A group of Arcata citizens obtained enough signatures to place the fate of the statue before the voters in the November 2018 election. The referendum for removal passed by a wide margin. Arcata was the first community in the U.S. to remove a presidential statue.
The city of Canton stepped up and offered to take the statue. Arcata accepted Canton's offer and the Timken Foundation paid Arcata $15,000 for costs associated with its removal. The statue was removed from the plaza in March 2019 and placed on a truck, arriving in Canton on March 18. The Timken Foundation immediately sent the statue out to be cleaned and refurbished because vandals had poured acid all over the statue in October 2018 and the acid had tarnished the finish.
The McKinley statue is now in storage in Canton waiting for its new home. A likely destination is the Stark County Courthouse where President McKinley spent much of his professional career.