We went on a trip to the William McKinley Presidential Library today.

For the non-U.S. readers (and U.S. reader who slept through history class), William McKinley was President from 1897-1901.  He was primarily known for being in office during the Spanish American War and getting shot and killed which made his vice-president, Teddy Roosevelt, president.

William McKinley Library

His memorial is up there. It is 108 steps up and appears to be insanely popular with runners looking to supplement their workouts. Most of the people here were running the stairs.

Inside there is a lovely stained glass piece at the top of the dome.

William McKinley Library

After you trudge back down the stairs you go to another building for the museum. What would you expect to see in a Presidential library? Go ahead, think about it. I’ll wait.

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I’ve never been to a Presidential library before but I didn’t expect this.

William McKinley Library

Yep, dinosaurs. What is the connection to President McKinley you ask? Nothing. Dinosaurs are just cool.

So are frogs

William McKinley Library

And this electricity thingy

William McKinley Library

I didn’t learn much at all about McKinley. There was one room with some of his stuff but it was not well labelled. There was also a special exhibition about Presidential horses which excited me but it turned out to be all posters on the wall of a back room.

Has anyone ever been to another Presidential library? Were there dinosaurs?