EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a weekly series on our region’s history coordinated by the Trumbull County Historical Society.

The McKinley Birthplace Home is both an old and new fixture of the Niles landscape.

According to the Niles Historical Society’s website, the original home was built in the mid-1830s on Lot 20 on Main Street in Niles. The McKinley family rented the home and remained there until 1852, when the family moved to Poland.

After the family left, the home was expanded to house a grocery store. In 1890, the home was cut in two, with one half moved to Riverside Park along Meander Creek and operated as a museum. The second half was moved to Franklin Alley and housed the Harris Automatic Press Company, which manufactured printing presses.

In 1901, Riverside Park closed and the McKinley House fell into disrepair. It operated as tenant housing until 1908. According to the Trumbull County Historical Society’s website, the Harris Automatic Press Company outgrew the building in Niles and moved to Cleveland by 1917.

According to the Niles Daily Times, in 1909, Miss Lulu E. Mackey purchased both halves of the McKinley Home and moved them to her 200-acre estate in Tibbets Corners (now McKinley Heights). She restored the home and filled it with relics and souvenirs, including furniture from his Canton home. The museum was operated by Mackey until her death in 1934. After her death, most of the artifacts were given to the McKinley Memorial in Canton. The home burned down in April of 1937.

According to the McKinley Memorial Library’s website, the library constructed a replica of William McKinley’s birthplace home as a tribute to the 25th president. The replica home stands on the exact location of the original home and houses the replica, as well as a research library, programming space and a gift shop. The replica home is sized and laid out in approximately the same manner as the original home — 33 feet across with a depth of 14 feet. The house has eight rooms, four on the first floor and four on the second floor.

According to the McKinley Memorial Library’s website, in 1994, National City Bank donated the former McKinley Bank building and land, which stood on the site of the original McKinley house, to the city of Niles.

The building was demolished in 1999, thanks to the efforts of Ohio Sen. Anthony Latell. In 2001, the city of Niles donated the property to the McKinley Memorial Library.

The library also purchased and demolished the adjacent property for additional land for the Birthplace Home.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the project was held on April 8, 2002.

Olsavsky-Jaminet of Youngstown and DSV Builders of Howland were the architect and general contractor for the project. According to the Niles Daily Times, the Friends of the McKinley Memorial Library sold memorial bricks to help fund the project. The memorial bricks were used to pave the area outside the back entrance to the home and continue to bear witness to our community’s generosity and appreciation for history.

According to the McKinley Memorial Library’s website, the dedication ceremony for the completed Replica Birthplace Home was on May 4, 2003. The home is furnished to resemble a typical middle-class house from the 1840s and features a cast iron tea kettle made by President McKinley’s grandfather.

The Replica Birthplace Home is open for tours 1 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to Friday and by appointment for groups of 10 or more. Tours are available on other days and times by appointment. Call 330-652-1704, ext. 3 to schedule a tour. More information is available at www.mcklib.org/BirthplaceHome.