McKinley Presidential Library and Museum

It’s Day 3 of our quest to visit 7 science centers in Ohio in 4 days. For those of you just now joining in, let me give a little background. We have a membership to our local science center, the Kentucky Science Center, and through that membership, we have access to the ASTC Passport Program, where we can visit over 300 reciprocal museums around the world for FREE.

You can go back to the beginning of this series HERE and read about our stop at Museum #1 – Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton, Ohio.

On Day 3 we were in Canton, Ohio, and visited the McKinley Presidential Library and Museum. It was pretty cold out, but we spent a few minutes observing the memorial and walked the steps to the top. President McKinley, his wife Ida, and their two daughters are all buried on this site.

The McKinley National Memorial was dedicated in 1907, and it was funded entirely by private donations. McKinley not only served as President of the United States, but he was also governor of Ohio. After taking in the beautiful view from the top we went inside to check out the museum.

We checked in at the information booth to show our Kentucky Science Center membership card and get our FREE tickets. Admission to the McKinley Presidential Library and Museum for our family of 6 would’ve cost us $52. So far our total savings on admission for this trip is $324.70.

The McKinley Presidential Library & Museum was designed to highlight President McKinley’s love of learning and specifically his love of science. There are also exhibits on the history of Stark County, the local community that houses the Museum, as well as a planetarium.

On the first floor, you enter Discover World where you will see a large animatronic Allosaurus that your kids will love to interact with. In the Discover World exhibit, there are lots of hands-on activities for the kids to enjoy. Micah found an area where she could identify rocks and an area where she could make a rubbing. Micah has started a rock collection so this was right up her alley.

There are more dinosaurs to see as you continue to Natural History Island. You will see the fossilized remains of a mastodon skeleton that was discovered in the nearby Canton, Ohio area during excavation for an apartment building.

When we got to the Ecology Island exhibit, it was a nice surprise to see some live animals. Here you can see fish and turtles while learning about life on land and in the water, as well as the importance of ecosystems. Other live animals include newts, pill bugs, beetles, cockroaches, millipedes, and more.

Continue around the corner and you will come to Fascination Station where you can test your skills against robots. Micah’s first stop was at the toy grab machine. She was determined to grab an object with the claw. Silas enjoyed competing against Rob to see who could generate the most watts of electricity at the Human Power Generator. I think Rob was the winner in that competition. Cullan found the green screen and was excited that there were several images that would be perfect for reenacting the Wizard of Oz. He started with the tornado scene and then progressed from there.

The upstairs part of the museum includes the Story of Stark County exhibit, the Street of Shops, and the William McKinley memorabilia exhibit. The Story of Stark County Experience takes you through 200 years of Stark county history.

There are so many neat historical artifacts including dresses from the 1890s and 1930s, a high wheeler bike, 1950s kitchen appliances, and so much more. There was a toy kitchen set from the 1960s and 1963 Easy Bake Oven. Cullan loved seeing all of the antique items in this exhibit. I always find it fascinating to see objects from the past and see how far we’ve come. The kids all enjoyed sitting in the Hoover vacuum chair swing where a Hoover vacuum would lift you off the floor. It was really neat.

After walking through the Story of Stark County and seeing many of the historical artifacts, you can take a walk down the Street of Shops and feel like you were transported to a 19th-century town. The Street of Shops will give you a pretty good idea of what the city of Canton used to look like. The first building is a log cabin that represents pioneer homes that would’ve been built when people started coming to Canton in 1805.

The rest of the town was created to resemble life in 1875. There is the Dannemiller General Store, which would’ve been one of the most important store in town. Here you could buy food, sewing supplies, toiletries, and some clothing items. Sometimes, for convenience, the post office would be inside the general store.

Like we learned at our visit to Dobby’s Frontier Town, the blacksmith was one of the most important people in town. The blacksmith was responsible for making all the tools the town needed that were made of iron.

The fire station was a lot of fun because there was a fire pole for the kids to slide down. Micah and Cullan enjoyed sliding down a few times, but Hadassah couldn’t quite get the hang of it. There is an 1888 fire engine on display as well that is really neat. It was made by the Ahrens company in Cincinnati and was a horse-drawn fire engine. There was a button the driver could press with his foot to ring a bell that would alert people to get out of the way of the fire engine.

There are several other buildings including a one-room schoolhouse, dentist office, and doctor’s office.

The McKinley Gallery has a large collection of McKinley artifacts including his rocking chair, piano, home furnishings, and more. There are animatronics of President and First Lady McKinley, and Cullan was mesmerized by them. He stood there for a long time listening to them welcome you into the exhibit.

For another look at our visit to the McKinley Presidential Library and Museum, check out our YouTube video below.

You can also read about the other museums we’ve visited on our trip:
Boonshoft Museum of Discovery
National Museum of the United States Air Force
Great Lakes Science Center
Cleveland Museum of Natural History
SPI – Where Science and Play Intersect

PIN for later