Program

NYS Historic

Subject

Building, Site

Location

388 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14202, USA

Lat/Long

42.89482, -78.875569

Grant Recipient

City of Buffalo

The Buffalo Club was established in December 1866, and by February of 1867 they had begun to meet in this house at 388 Delaware Avenue (Buffalo Daily Republic, February 19, 1867).

In 1901 following the shooting of President McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, the Buffalo Club was chosen as headquarters for the U.S. Government’s cabinet members who were in the city. The cabinet took up residence at the Buffalo Club in order to conduct important business that could not be delayed, while also remaining close by to the gravely wounded President who could not be moved. While waiting for the President to recover, between September 6^th and 16^th, the cabinet members effectively operated the U.S. Government out of the Buffalo Club. On September 14^th, President McKinley passed away, and they began to return to Washington D.C.

Although they came and went over the ten day period, on September 16^th the Buffalo Club guest log recorded Theodore Roosevelt (Vice President), John Hay (Sec. of State), Philander Knox (Attorney General), Ethan Hitchcock (Sec. of the Interior), Charles E. Smith (Postmaster General), John Davis Long (Sec. of the Navy), James Wilson (Sec. of Agriculture), Charles Fairbanks (Senator from Indiana), Joseph Hawley (Senator from Connecticut), Charles Gates Dawes (Comptroller of Currency), and Benjamin Odell (Governor of New York).

Not all of the cabinet members resided at the Club during this time, but most of them did.