Customer Reviews

The McKinley Monument: A Tribute to a Fallen President

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A nice small book to brief you on the McKinley Monument located in my home town of Canton, Ohio. I have a signed copy by the author. The author covers President McKinley's life until he was assassinated in 1901. Then the construction & maintenance history of the McKinley Monument is covered from how the site and location was selected through construction until how the Monument is maintained in modern times. Of interest to President McKinley's life is that he served in the Civil War from 1961 until 1865; his second vice president was Theodore Roosevelt; and he managed his election and reelection campaigns from the porch of his house in Canton, Ohio. The book contains many black and white photos of the construction and maintenance of the Monument ranging from the design competition renderings to modern day repair and restoration photos. There is nothing in color. Some of the grammar could have been written better. The Monument has been a maintenance burden. One of the greatest maintenance issues has to do with the stone roof; specifically the stone joints. Water has been leaching thru the stone joints continuously with seemingly no success of throwing large amounts of cash at trying to fix it. For the technology of that time, I can understand the lack of success of being able to stop water from coming in the Monument, especially in Canton's sever climate. However, I know firsthand that sealant technology exists to solve this problem. I also know that clear sealants exist to keep water out but still let the stone "breath". I also recommend that a clear sealant be applied to entire structure every five (5) years. This can be high pressure spray applied. The State Historic Preservation Society of Ohio (SHPO) doesn't like it but it works and saves untold sums of funds. One of my favorite details on the monument is the wreath carved in stone centered on the roof close to the skylight (very symbolic). All in all this is a good book. However, for a paperback the price is a little steep.

Public memory is a hot topic today. Personalities and events that the public remembers, and the ways people are encouraged to remember them, lie at the center of an explosion of studies. The accepted wisdom is that the public memory is normally short and highly selective; certainly American leaders are constantly seeking ways to capture and hold our attention for their heroes and values. Public monuments and statuary have come in for a lot of attention. In The McKinley Monument, museum curator Christopher Kenney tells an engaging story of constructing, maintaining, and interpreting the massive Beaux Arts mausoleum in Canton, Ohio, during a century while the fame of its slain President waxed and waned. William McKinley was greatly mourned after his assassination in 1901, but his fame was quickly overshadowed by the attention given to successor Theodore Roosevelt and later presidents. McKinley's burial site at first received the attention of Ohio's elite. But problems soon intruded, ranging from a very leaky roof to an inadequate endowment. New donors, new managers, and changing civic interests all played their part. Today McKinley's mausoleum shares its site with a city museum that contains a couple of memorial rooms as well as a planetarium, an interactive dinosaur exhibit, and a model train layout. One can only wonder if the same will happen to some from our current political generation.