Host Your Event at 5 Spots that Celebrate Ohio’s Presidents

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the 2020 edition of Great Meetings in Ohio. The information contained within has been recently checked. 

Deepen your knowledge of Ohio’s presidents at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus. The seat of our state government honors each of the eight presidents who hailed from Ohio with mementos from their time in the White House. Take a free tour to learn more about the gorgeous Greek Revival building, and host your event in the 120-foot-high rotunda under a glass skylight that bears a hand painted Great Seal of Ohio as it looked in 1847. ohiostatehouse.org

Start your meeting with a workout by walking up the staircase to the McKinley National Memorial at the William McKinley Presidential Library & Museum in Canton. Inside the museum, admire the large collection of personal artifacts from our 25th president. Then, step back in time at the historical Street of Shops and go stargazing in the planetarium before settling in for a meeting in the auditorium, which can hold up to 100 attendees. mckinleymuseum.org

Grab a photo of your attendees by the former White House gates that are now installed at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums in Fremont. Celebrate the life of our 19th president and his wife through photos, documents and artifacts. The museum provides a comprehensive view of their lives and the time period in which they lived. Explore the grounds of Spiegel Grove and take a guided tour of the 31-room mansion before or after hosting your meeting in the museum auditorium. rbhayes.org

Stand where our 29th President Warren G. Harding did as he conducted his famous front-porch campaign from his home in Marion. The historic Harding Home sits next to the Warren G. Harding Presidential Library, which opened in May 2021. It features thousands of previously unseen artifacts and offers a space for meetings. Save time for a visit to the nearby Harding Memorial, where the former president and his wife are buried. hardingpresidentialsites.org

Celebrate creativity while honoring the family of 27th President William Howard Taft at the Taft Museum of Art in his hometown of Cincinnati. (Although the former president didn’t live at the historic home that houses the museum, his half brother Charles Phelps Taft did.) Stroll through renowned collections like European Decorative Arts, American Art or Chinese Art, and host your meeting in the rooms inside the National Historic Landmark. Before you leave, admire the Duncanson Murals, painted by one of the first internationally recognized African-American artists. taftmuseum.org