19 - Rutherford Hayes

Rutherford B. Hayes was born on October 4, 1822, in Delaware, Ohio.  The home no longer stands, but there is a historical marker at the location.  I visited the site in 1979:

The Hayes family had been building a new house when his father died, three months before Rutherford's birth.  Hayes writes in his diary that the family moved into this "new two-story brick house on the northeast corner of William and Winter Streets, opposite the old brick Methodist meetinghouse."  These streets no longer intersect, so I am unsure of the exact location, and whether the house still exists.

During the summer of 1836, Hayes (at the age of 14) left home to study at the Methodist Academy of Norwalk, Ohio.  This building no longer exists.

In 1837, Hayes moved to Middletown, Connecticut, to attend Isaac Webb's School.  This building no longer exists and the site is now the power plant for Wesleyan University.

In 1838, Hayes began studies at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.  He lived in the building known as Old Kenyon.  In 1949,  Old Kenyon suffered a devastating fire, which destroyed everything but the outer shell of the building.  I have not visited this site.

After graduating from Kenyon College, Hayes studied and practiced law, went off to battle in the Civil War, and returned home to begin a career in politics.  I have not visited the following sites as I only know the cities, I do not know the exact addresses (with the exception of the buildings that no longer exist):

1842 - Upon graduation, began studying law with Thomas Sparrow in Columbus, Ohio
1843 - Began studies at the law school at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachussetts
1846 - Moved to Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), Ohio, to begin law practice
1849 - Moved to Cincinnati, Ohio (a house on Pearl Street that no longer exists)
1852 - Married and moved into home of mother-in-law in Cincinnati, Ohio
           (141 West 6th Street - home no longer exists)
1853 - Moved to 383 6th Street, Cincinnati, Ohio (building no longer exists)
1855 - Moved to Walnut Street, Cincinnati, Ohio
1855 - Moved to 621 West 6th Street, Cincinnati, Ohio (building no longer exists)
1861 - Began military career, fighting Civil War battles in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia
1865 - Went to Washington, DC, to take seat in the United States House of Representatives
1868 - Elected Governor of Ohio and moved into a home on State Street, Columbus, Ohio
           (building no longer exists - now the site of the Columbus Metropolitan Library)
1872 - Left governorship and returned to Cincinnati, Ohio.  Stayed at the Carlisle House.

In 1873, the Hayes family moved to a home in Fremont, Ohio, which had originally been built by Hayes's uncle.  This was to remain Hayes's official residence for the remainder of his life.  I visited the Rutherford B. Hayes Home at Spiegel Grove in 1975:

Hayes went back to Columbus in 1876, elected again as Governor of Ohio.  During his time as governor, he rented a house at 60 East Broad Street, across the street from the state house.  I am unsure whether the building that currently sits on that site is the building in which Hayes lived.

Hayes only served half of this third term, leaving in 1877 for the White House.  Keeping his campaign promise of not running for re-election, Hayes retired to his home in Fremont, Ohio, in 1881. 

On, January 17, 1893, Rutherford B. Hayes died at home from complications of a heart attack.  Initially buried in Fremont's Oakwood Cemetery, Hayes was re-interred on the grounds of Spiegel Grove in 1915.  I visited the burial site in 1975:

Although it is not officially part of the presidential library system, the first presidential library and museum was created in 1916 on the grounds of Spiegel Grove by the children of Rutherford Hayes.  I visited the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in 1975:

 

The museum contains a lot of Hayes's Civil War relics, including his uniform:

Back to Index

Back to Steve and the Presidents