Theodore Roosevelt Took the Oath in This Buffalo Library
McKinley died at 2:15 that morning. Before the day was out Theodore Roosevelt had taken the oath in a friend's library on Delaware Avenue, and that house is what you tour.
In September 1901 Buffalo was hosting the Pan-American Exposition, and most of the country's attention was on it. On the sixth, an assassin shot President McKinley at the fair. He lived another eight days.
McKinley died at 2:15 on the morning of September 14, and before that day was out Theodore Roosevelt had taken the oath of office in the library of this house on Delaware Avenue. The National Park Service describes the ceremony as brief, emotional, and improvised. Nobody had a program ready for it.
📍 Tours leave from the Visitor Center at 641 Delaware Avenue, on the hour from 10:30 in the morning, with the last one at 3:30. Visits here are by guided tour only, so the time on your ticket is the tour you are on.
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site Admission and Guided TourTimed admission with a guided tour of the restored rooms and the interactive exhibits, 45 to 60 minutes, with free parking behind the house.www.viator.comThe Exhibits Do More Than Hang on a Wall
Past the restored rooms the house opens into galleries built for sound and motion. Two of them want your hands: a game called Captains of Industry that puts you in charge of an early twentieth-century business, and a kinetoscope you crank yourself to watch a period film clip.
The guided tour runs about an hour. It is moderate indoor walking, and the Site says seating is available along the way for a limited number of people.
The Exposition That Brought Everyone to Buffalo
The shooting happened at the Pan-American Exposition, and the Site gives the fair a room of its own. Millions traveled to Buffalo that summer for it, and most of what they carried home was small. A case of that leftover merchandise turns out to be the clearest measure of how big the fair was.
Then an assassin changed what the city gets remembered for. Both halves are in the room, and neither one is flattened to make space for the other.
Parking, the Front Steps, and the Way In
The house sits back from Delaware Avenue behind a lawn. Free off-street parking is behind the Site, reachable from Delaware Avenue or from Franklin Street, which runs one way northbound. Metered street parking on Delaware runs 8 in the morning to 5 in the evening, Monday through Saturday.
Which door you use matters. The Delaware Avenue front entrance has three stairs. The step-free entrance is at the rear on the parking lot side, and the Site's own guidance is that visitors with mobility needs come in that way. Once you are inside, the tour itself takes no stairs, and an elevator reaches the second floor.
Timing Your Ticket, and Who the Hour Suits
Tours start on the hour from 10:30, and the last one leaves at 3:30. Booking closes 24 hours before the start time, and a full refund needs that same 24 hours' notice. Confirmation is immediate, and one booking covers up to six people.
What you buy is exchanged for an entry ticket at the Visitor Center when you arrive, so leave a few minutes before your slot. Getting to the house is not included. Children are welcome and infants can ride in a stroller, though an adult has to be on the booking.
- Open February through December, daily. In January the Site opens Friday and Saturday only.
- Closed New Year's Day, Easter Sunday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
- Service animals are welcome.
The Visitor Center keeps National Park Service passport stamps, including one issued for the America 250 year, so bring the book if you keep one. There is a Junior Ranger activity booklet for younger visitors.
Tours run every hour until half past three, which leaves the rest of a Buffalo afternoon still in front of you.