NILES McKinley research center groundbreaking cancelled

The memorial library plans to build a replica of the 25th president's birthplace.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- Groundbreaking for the McKinley Home and Research Center has been canceled because bids on the work greatly exceed the estimated cost.
The McKinley Memorial Library had set the groundbreaking for Saturday, but bids opened last week exceeded the $524,000 estimated cost.
Patrick E. Finan, library director, said the library received 11 bids, with the lowest exceeding the estimated cost by 43 percent.
Plans and the cost of the project will be adjusted, he said. The library board of trustees was expected to discuss the issue at a meeting today.
The original plan was for a 6,000-square-foot replica of the house where President William McKinley was born.
Site: The house is to be built on Main Street. The library board bought the Old Main and Chowder House for $140,000 and demolished it last year to make way for the replica.
The original plan called for the rear of the building to house a resource center and library with McKinley materials.
A computer lab would be in the basement for public use, and a meeting room would be on the house's second floor.
The front part of the house would be furnished and decorated with pieces from the period, including antiques and replicas.
Biography: McKinley was born Jan. 29, 1843, in a house on Main Street, the seventh of William Sr. and Nancy Allison McKinley's nine children.
His parents had moved from Lisbon between 1840 and 1842 to operate an iron forge.
When the future president was 9, the family moved to Poland, looking for better schools. McKinley enrolled in Poland Seminary School, which was a private school at the time.