The monument was commissioned by the State of New York and dedicated September 6, 1907 to the memory of William McKinley, 25th President of the United States, who was fatally shot while attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo on September 6, 1901. Daniel H. Burnham influenced the process of designing the monument by advising that a obelisk should be built in order to call to the importance and significance of the monument. A full restoration had occurred in 2017 as the result of environmental conditions compromising the integrity of the monument.