Why McKinley? / A Library & Civil War Veterans

Why McKinley?, also, A Library and Civil War Veterans. Explore Adams History. , (side 1) , Why McKinley , The McKinley Monument was dedicated on October 19, 1903, two years after he was assassinated in Buffalo, N.Y. He visited Adams on three occasions: once as Governor of Ohio and twice as President of the United States. Each time, he stayed for several days at the Park Street home of W.B. Plunkett., His visits were major events in Adams, but his greatest impact was the McKinley Tariff that he ushered through Congress as a Representative from Ohio. The tariff taxed foreign-made goods that competed with Americas-made, giving a price advantage to American manufacturers., The Pluckett brothers in Adams established The Berkshire Cotton Mfg. Co. in 1889 and erected their first mill. The first shipment of cotton goods left the mill on August 12, 1890. The McKinley Tariff went into effect one and a half months later on October 1, 1890. Over the next 10 years, the mill expanded to four mills and brought Adams the greatest economic prosperity in its history., Sculptor Augustus Lukeman (1872-1935) was a student of Daniel Chester French. He studied at the National Academy of Design and École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His most famous works are the World War I Monument in Brooklyn's Prospect Park and Stone Mountain Georgia. The statue is an eight-foot bronze standing on a pedestal of Stony Creek granite. Four bronze panels on the pedestal depicts scenes of McKinley's military and political career., (captions, top to bottom) , Author of the McKinley Tariff, Governor of Ohio, 25th President of the United States. , President McKinley arrived in Adams in a private train car that parked in front of the Plunkett mansion, where he received a 21-gun salute. Grand Army of the Republic veterans performed escort duties. , The McKinley Tariff was a hot political debate and was often parodied in editorial cartoons, such as seen here in Puck magazine in 1897. , Crowds filled the streets for the statue unveiling ceremony., (side 2) , A Library and Civil War Veterans , In the mid-1890s, two clever men who were Civil War veterans and library trustees realized that Adams needed a dedicated building for its library and a monument to the Civil War. When the Civil War ended, Adams and North Adams were one town and the Civil War monument was erected in the north village. Thirty years after the war ended, and Adams was a separate town, it approved the construction of a library that would also serve as a memorial to the war and to house a meeting hall for the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.), the Civil War veterans association. William McKinley laid the cornerstone of the new building during his first visit to town as President of the United States. Today, the G.A.R. Hall is one of a small number still in existence and preserved in its original appearance., The furniture originally placed in this room in 1890 is still found there. The bible stand to the right is a carved-oak scaled replica of a Civil War era cannon. Three oversized bullets support the bible's cushion., The architect, W.M. Butterfield of Manchester, N.H. designed this building in the Breaux Art style - the same style as Grand Central Station in New York and the Paris Opera House. The choice of a buff-colored brick is in contrast to large number of red brick buildings in this industrial town., (captions, top to bottom) , The memorial Hall above the library was the former meeting rooms of the Civil War veterans , Members of the G.A.R. wore this medallion as a sign of their membership in the association. , A flag from the U.S.S. Brooklyn that flew during the Battle of Mobile in the Civil War was given to the Adams G.A.R. Post 126 by one of its members who was stationed on the ship. The Adams Historical Society displayed it on the 150th anniversary of that battle., Explore Adams History is a project of the Adams Historical Society and ProAdams, made possible by a grant from the Barrett Fund and the support of our sponsors.