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| Courtesy of Bing Images |
In the center of downtown Buffalo is Niagara Square. It was designed in 1804 by Joseph Elliot and is the intersection point of four main Buffalo streets, Delaware Avenue, Niagara Street, Court Street and Genesee Street.
Buffalo’s City hall overlooks Niagara Square, along with other government buildings. In the center of the square is a monument to President William McKinley. He was assassinated in Buffalo during the 1901 Pan Am Exposition. Shot twice, McKinley died several days later from gangrene. Theodore Roosevelt was the Vice President at the time and came to Buffalo to be sworn in as President upon McKinley’s death. This historical site is known as The Wilcox Mansion on Delaware Avenue. Visitors can tour the museum that is now there and full of information on the McKinley/Roosevelt story.
The assassination was in the Temple of Music, but, like most of the buildings used in the expo, it was torn down after the fair was over. There is a marker at the shooting site, but the Temple of Music was not located near Niagara Square.
According to Buffaloah.com, the Niagara Square site was an unplanned space that was lacking direction. The idea to construct an obelisk monument surrounded by fountains was commissioned and in 1907, six years to the day McKinley was shot, the monument was dedicated to the fallen President. That was September 6th 1907 and the monument still graces Buffalo today, after more than 100 years.
