Although the house isn't original, there are many items in the building that are, including this, Roosevelt's desk:
Roosevelt's family traveled extensively during his childhood. After travels in 1872-73, fifteen-year-old Roosevelt stayed for five months with a family in Dresden, Germany. I am unsure of the exact location of the home where he stayed.
Roosevelt returned in November 1873 and his family moved to 6 West 57th Street. In 1876, Roosevelt moved to Cambridge to attend Harvard, where he rented a room on the second floor of a house at the corner of Winthrop and Holyoke Streets. He returned to his family's NYC home upon his graduation in 1880 and Roosevelt and his new bride remained there until they rented an apartment at 55 West 45th Street in 1882. After his wife died in 1884, he moved in with his sister at 422 Madison Avenue. As Manhattan grew, all three of these buildings were demolished and replaced with commercial buildings.
In 1883, Roosevelt traveled west to what is now North Dakota. He acquired rights to a ranch and lived briefly in the Maltese Cross Cabin. I visited the site in 2015:
After the death of his wife in 1884, he returned to and purchased a second ranch. Over the next eight years, he would return often and stay on his Elkhorn Ranch. The home that he built has been demolished.
In 1884, Roosevelt built a 22-room mansion in Oyster Bay on Long Island. This was to be his primary residence for the remainder of his life. I have not yet visited the Sagamore Hill National Historic Site.
In 1889, Roosevelt became US Civil Service Commissioner and moved to Washington DC. He rented a home at 1820 Jefferson Place NW. I have not yet visited this site.
In 1892, Roosevelt moved to a house at 1215 19th St NW, where he lived until moving back to New York in 1895. I was in Washington DC for a meeting in September 2014, and while walking from my hotel to the office, I passed right by the home:
Note: This home is privately owned and not open to the public.
In 1897, Roosevelt became assistant secretary of the navy and returned to Washington DC. The three-story brick home where he resided at 1910 N Street NW has been demolished.
In 1899, Roosevelt became governor of New York and moved into the New York State Executive Mansion in Albany. I visited in the summer of 2014:
In 1901, Roosevelt was elected Vice President and returned to Washington DC. Later that year, upon learning of the shooting of the president, Roosevelt rushed to Buffalo. When the president died from his wounds, Roosevelt took the oath of office at the home of a friend. I visited the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site in October of 2014:
Here I am in the room where Roosevelt took the oath:
From 1901 to 1909, Roosevelt was president of the United States, and thus, lived in the White House. However, during the summer and fall of 1902, while the White House was being renovated, the Roosevelts resided in a townhouse at 736 Jackson Place NW. I visited this site in 2015:
On January 6, 1919, Theodore Roosevelt died at his home in Oyster Bay; he was buried on the grounds of Sagamore Hill. This is one of only two presidential burial sites I have not yet visited.
The National Park Service acquired an island in the Potomac River between Virginia and Washingto DC to serve as our national memorial to President Roosevelt. I visited Theodore Roosevelt Island with my nephew Brian and brother-in-law Jim in 2015:
President Roosevelt has been memorialized with a statue at the National McKinley Birthplace Memorial, which honors those who worked closely with President McKinley. I visited in 2015:
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Seriously - these blogs are just so fantastic! Thank you! :) #historynerdsunite
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