Located in: Marion, Ohio
The Harding Home is the residence of Warren G. Harding, 29th president of the United States. Harding and his future wife, Florence, designed the Queen Anne Style house in 1890, a year before their marriage. They were married in the house and lived there for 30 years before his election to the presidency in 1920.
Like other presidential candidates of the day, Harding conducted his election campaign mainly from the house’s front porch. The front of the Harding Home is surrounded by an expansive porch, enlarged in 1903 to feature a round “bandstand” like element. During the three-month front porch campaign, over 600,000 people traveled to the Harding Home to listen to Warren speak from that position. George Christian (Warren’s next-door neighbor and Press Secretary) allowed his home to be used as Republican Headquarters for the campaign. In anticipation of the campaign, Harding built a small bungalow behind the Christian House so newspaper reporters had space to cover the campaign. He also expanded the kitchen to accommodate the plethora of press and visitors.
After the sudden death of the President in 1923, three years into his term, Mrs. Harding bequeathed the house to the Harding Memorial Association, a local history group. The Ohio History Connection now operates the home as a historic house museum. It also operates the Harding Memorial, an impressive marble structure housing the Hardings’ gravesites in a nearby cemetery, and a newly built Presidential Library on property behind the house.
The restored house contains almost all original furnishings owned by President Harding and his wife. The adjacent press house features information about the reporters who worked there in 1920, as well as the relationship of the reporters to Harding and their importance to the campaign.
A Capital Campaign Challenge Grant of $445,000 from the Jeffris Foundation in 2015 fueled the restoration of the house proper, with the Ohio History Connection raising the remaining two-thirds of the cost. The culmination of the project coincided with the 100th anniversary of Harding’s election to the presidency.
