Stark courthouse eyed as location for renovated McKinley statue

CANTON – The Timken Foundation has chosen the Stark County Courthouse as the best location for a statue of President William McKinley — the one that came from Arcata, California, more than three years ago.

Foundation representatives this week presented their plan to the Stark County commissioners, who were asked to accept the statue as a donation for the corner of Tuscarawas Street and Market Avenue. The courthouse property in downtown Canton is owned by the county.

"It's an exciting project for the city and the county," Commissioner Janet Weir Creighton said. "It's a way to honor William McKinley and have a statue of him downtown."

The commissioners still have to vote on the measure but expressed their support. Creighton, who thanked the Timken Foundation for undertaking the project and associated costs, said there's no set date for when the vote will occur.

"We know about the statue, but we don't know about the base, and we don't know how big it's going to be," she said. "So we're waiting on more information from them."

Robert R. "Bob" Timken, president of the foundation, and his parents, Ward J. "Jack" and Joy Timken, told the commissioners that the six-person board of trustees favored the courthouse because of its proximity to the Saxton House, McKinley's law offices in the First National Bank building and the president's Methodist church. They also consulted with Mayor Thomas Bernabei and Dwaine Hemphill, the court administrator.

"It just seemed to be such a natural place to locate him downtown," Joy Timken said.

According to their presentation, the Timken Foundation will cover the design and installation costs for a statue base. The bronze statue is about 8 feet tall and was sculpted by Haig Patigian, whose work is displayed in the White House and Congress.

California rancher George Zehnder, who met the president following one of his speeches in California, commissioned the statue after McKinley's assassination and gifted it to the city of Arcata. It stood in the city's plaza for more than 100 years before City Council decided to remove it in 2018 after decades of dispute surrounding the statue and McKinley's imperialist reputation.

After the news spread, the Timken Foundation and Bernabei made a case for its relocation to Canton. The foundation purchased the statue for $15,000 in February 2019 and transported it to McKay Lodge in Oberlin, where damage from environmental deterioration and vandalism was repaired.

The courthouse was among the locations considered early on and one of Bernabei's favorites, he said in an email.

"I hope this moves forward," he said. "My special thanks to the Timken Foundation for the purchase, restoration and proposed donation of this extraordinary statue and what will be a beautiful addition to downtown Canton."

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark courthouse eyed as location for renovated McKinley statue