McKinley Assassination Marker
Fordham Drive
Buffalo

The Pan-American Exposition, staged in Buffalo, presented a microcosm of all of the trends, developments, innovations and attitudes at the dawn of the 20th century.

Vice President Theodore Roosevelt opened the exposition in the spring of 1901. President McKinley had been scheduled to officiate, but canceled because of his wife's illness. The McKinleys did come to the exposition in September and were able to inspect the grounds. On Sept. 6, McKinley attended a reception in the exposition's Music Building. The president had been standing in a receiving line greeting the public for seven minutes when an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz shot him twice at point blank range. He died a week later.

Today, there is a marker toward the eastern end of Fordham Drive that marks the spot where McKinley was assassinated.

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