About the Stark County Historical Society
The Stark County Historical Society was formed in 1946 and today does business as the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum at 800 McKinley Monument Drive NW in Canton. A private 501(c)(3) with a 22-member elected board of trustees, it collects and preserves materials on the history of Stark County and the legacy of William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States, who built his political career in Canton. The museum sits at the foot of the McKinley National Memorial, which the society owns and maintains; the memorial is the final resting place of President McKinley, First Lady Ida McKinley, and their two young daughters. The McKinley National Memorial Association was formed on September 26, 1901, construction began on June 6, 1905, and the state rededicated the monument in 1951; its interior dome is 50 feet across and 77 feet high, with a skylight of 45 stars for the states of 1901.
The museum's holdings include the largest collection of McKinley memorabilia in the world, displayed in the McKinley Gallery. Beyond the presidential collection, visitors walk the Street of Shops, a life-sized indoor 19th-century town with a large HO-gauge model railroad; explore the Stark County Story, a permanent exhibition tracing 200 years of local history; and visit Discover World, an interactive science center with live animals from turtles and snakes to bearded dragons. The Keller Gallery hosts rotating traveling exhibitions and in-house shows drawn from the permanent collection, and the 65-seat Hoover-Price Planetarium, established in 1963 and named for the Hoover family and company and Mr. and Mrs. Harley Price, presents programs every Saturday and Sunday, with added weekday shows from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
The McKinley Presidential Library & Museum receives no government funding for daily operations and is supported by admissions, memberships, grants, programs, investment income, and donations. It annually hosts approximately 200,000 visitors to its grounds and about 50,000 guests inside the museum, including 15,000 children on school field trips. Annual events include McKinley Day, a celebration of the president's January birthday, a Halloween party, a holiday open house, and the Soup at Six lecture series on historical topics.
Collections and Research Services
The Ramsayer Research Library, a non-lending facility in the museum's South Wing, serves as the presidential archive and a resource for historians and genealogists researching Stark County. Its holdings include McKinley letters, photographs, and texts; Stark County genealogy and family history material; historical newspapers and periodicals, including microfilm; a photograph archive; property abstracts; vertical files; county ledgers; and published archive books. The library is open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., is free to enter through the main lobby admissions window, and encourages appointments; researchers may bring pencils, loose-leaf paper, and laptops, but digital photography is prohibited. Research requests can be submitted online or to researchrequests@mckinleymuseum.org, and a fee schedule applies to staff research. Property abstracts and city directories make this a good first stop if you want to learn when a Canton house was built or follow a family through old city directories.
Planning Your Visit
The museum is at 800 McKinley Monument Drive NW, Canton, OH 44708 (I-77 exit 106 from the north, exit 105 from the south). It is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m., and is closed New Year's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. Admission, as of February 1, 2025, is $17 for adults, $16 for seniors 60 and over, $15 for ages 3 to 18, and free for children 2 and under; a planetarium ticket is included with paid admission on scheduled show days but seating is limited and first come, first served. EBT cardholders pay $3 for adults with free admission for children under 18 through Museums for All, and active-duty military families are admitted free from Armed Forces Day through Labor Day under Blue Star Museums. The McKinley National Memorial is free and open April 1 through November 1 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call (330) 455-7043 for visitor information or check mckinleymuseum.org for the planetarium calendar and parking details.
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