HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
The home where Ida McKinley lost both infant daughters and her mother in a single harrowing stretch — now a National Historic Site on Canton ghost tours
331 S. Market Ave., Canton, OH 44702
Research updated August 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Admission fees apply for guided tours; check NPS website for current pricing. Ghost tours require separate tour operator ticket.
Access
Limited Access
Three-floor Victorian home with stairs; not fully wheelchair accessible
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1841 · Home of First Lady Ida Saxton McKinley · National Register of Historic Places (2001) · First Ladies National Historic Site designated 2000 · Site of multiple family tragedies for the McKinley family
George Dewalt built the rear section of this house in 1841 and left it to his daughter Katherine and her husband John Saxton. John expanded the front in 1870 to accommodate his growing family. After Ida Saxton married William McKinley in January 1871, the couple initially lived elsewhere; they moved into the Saxton family home around 1878 and remained there for approximately 13 years.
The years inside this house were marked by successive losses. Ida's youngest daughter, also named Ida, was born in April 1873 and died in August of that year at four months old following a difficult delivery. Katherine, born Christmas Day 1871, died on June 25, 1875, at three years old from heart disease — though accounts dispute whether the actual cause was typhoid or scarlet fever. Ida's mother died March 20, 1873. At her mother's funeral, Ida fell while stepping into or out of a carriage, striking her head; the incident is believed to have precipitated the epilepsy and phlebitis that would affect her for the rest of her life.
The house eventually became the home of the National First Ladies' Library, established in 1996 by Mary Regula. The First Ladies National Historic Site was officially designated on October 11, 2000, and added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 31, 2001. It is currently managed in partnership between the National First Ladies' Library and the National Park Service through Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Guided tours of the three-floor home record approximately 11,000 visitors annually.
Sources
Ghost tour accounts at the Saxton-McKinley House frame its haunting not around violence or malice but around grief — the particular emotional residue of a woman who lost two children and her mother within the span of two years, and who spent the following decades in chronic pain and neurological decline. Ida McKinley's younger daughter died at four months old in August 1873; her older daughter Katherine died at three years old in June 1875. Both deaths occurred while the family lived here or nearby.
Tour guides describe the spirits of Ida and her two daughters as still present in the home, and characterize the haunting as one of 'grief and sorrow' rather than fear. The accounts originate with the tour operator rather than with formal paranormal investigations, and the house's primary function remains that of a museum and historic site — one that documents the first ladies of the United States with scholarly rigor rather than paranormal programming.
The weight of the house's history requires no embellishment: the documented facts of what happened inside its walls during the late 19th century carry their own considerable gravity.
Notable Entities
Guided tours of the Victorian-era home showcase formal parlors, Ida McKinley's bedroom, and the third-floor ballroom, with period-appropriate furnishings including some original McKinley belongings. The home has been carefully restored to its 1880s appearance.
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This Canton tour includes Saxton-McKinley House (National First Ladies Library) on its route.
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