RIP President McKinley- 115 Years Ago today

Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site 

After succumbing to an infection from wounds suffered at the hand of an assassin, President William McKinley died on this date in 1901. His Vice President would become the 26th President of the United States. Theodore Roosevelt was inaugurated  at the Ansley Wilcox House on Delaware Avenue. The home had originally been part of the Buffalo Barracks compound. Years later under private ownership of the Rumsey family the property was given to Mary Grace Rumsey's husband. It was in the Wilcox home  that Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as President. The hasty and politically expedient ceremony sought to stabilize any perceived turmoil in the country following McKinley's tragic murder. President Teddy would go on to become one of the nation's most popular and influential statesmen and the inauguration site would become a restaurant for thirty years. Many features of the original home were lost ,changed, and disturbingly destroyed. In 1966 the house became a National Historic Site where you could no longer get a nice ribeye. Today elements of the home have been restored and it also encompasses a museum of sorts. The renovation plans, originally drawn up by the Wilcox family, still exist somewhere in the house at 641 Delaware Avenue.  Perhaps someday they will come to fruition.

Buffalo/Rome

Riverworks Ruins 

Oh...Remember the original Buffalo Rome? We loooved that place. Closest thing to a bistro way back when, when we were starving to have the elements of a large city. But look at us now. Someone made this wonderful ruin into a gathering place. It feels like you are among the Roman ruins, where modern day life just surrounds what's left and goes on. Keep all of this coming. Keep using, reusing and innovating. It truly is a renaissance. We are getting back to where we should have been. Where the Erie Canal, the Pan Am Exposition, Lake Erie positioned us. Let's not drop the ball again.

President William McKinley, Shot on this Day

Memorial plaque on the site where McKinley was shot 

President McKinley was shot in Buffalo in this day in 1901, 115 years ago.  Through a series of missteps in his care, the popular president succumbed to  infection from his wounds . Attending the Pan-American Exposition, the president, who had been stalked by anarchist Leon Czolgosz, was approached and assassinated. The location of the attack was the Exposition's Temple of Music, now marked by a simple stone in the middle Fordham Street. This former Pan-Am location is lined with lovely bungalow -style homes dating back to the neighborhood's development in the years after the fair.