Visitors are met at the door by a volunteer guide dressed as one of the presidents' wives. The tour begins with a short film from the Smithsonian's current First Ladies exhibit in Washington and proceeds with a walking tour of the three-story house. There is an elevator for the handicapped. The First Ladies Library at the Ida Saxton McKinley House is located in Canton, Ohio, about 60 miles south of Cleveland at the intersection of Interstate 77 and Route 30. Guided tours are available Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. by reservation only.
Groups are welcome and the home is wheelchair accessible.
There is a small brick park adjacent to the building with picnic tables for those who pack a lunch. The Canton Hilton Hotel is directly across Market Street from the library. Distressed that for decades the Smithonian's only tribute to first ladies was a collection of inaugural gowns, and unable to find a reading list for a talk she was to give on Mary Todd Lincoln, Regula, wife of Ohio congressman Ralph Regula, decided that there must be a complete bibliography on all the women who have served in the White House. She assembled a group of 13 influential women from north-central Ohio and pitched them the idea for the library. They could not have been more enthused.