Not Your Everyday Presidential Library

By Linda Tancs

The McKinley Presidential Library & Museum in Canton, Ohio, is not your everyday presidential museum. Of course, it has the usual presidential memorabilia and research facilities you would expect. But it also boasts animatronic figures of the president and his wife along with an interactive science center, a planetarium and the Street of Shops, a life-sized, indoor 19th-century town featuring a large HO gauge train layout. The president, his wife and two daughters are also buried at the site at the McKinley National Memorial, a city landmark. Open from April to November, the towering, dome-shaped monument has a red, white and blue skylight with 45 stars in its design, representing the 45 states in the Union at the time of President McKinley’s death.