Canton celebrates McKinley’s birthday

CANTON (AP) — Canton is remembering one of its favorite sons: William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States.

Canton has celebrated McKinley’s birthday on the last Saturday of January for more than a century. Visitors to the Wm. McKinley Presidential Library & Museum on Saturday watched as Civil War re-enactors fired muskets and museum educators and volunteers demonstrated 19th-century cooking practices.

McKinley was born in 1843 in Niles, near Youngstown. He later moved to Canton, where he launched his political career.

He served in the Union Army during the Civil War, was elected president in 1896 and re-elected in 1900. He was assassinated in 1901.