the tomb of President Warren G. Harding and his wife Florence

Located at the intersection of Ohio-423 and Vernon Heights Boulevard in Marion, Ohio, the Harding Memorial is a 53-foot-tall, 103-foot-diameter circular structure that resembles a Greek temple. A Greek Ionic colonnade stands in front of a circular wall forming an open court. The columns of this structure support a terrace filled with green plants and shrubbery. Two black granite tombstones, decorated only by two bronze wreaths at the heads of each stone, indicate the resting places of the President and his wife. Enclosing the entire court and colonnade is a stance of 46 Doric Greek columns; the plan originally called for 48 columns, one for each state in Harding's era, but money fell short and the design was amended. The entire Memorial is built of Georgia white marble, furnished by the Georgia Marble Company of Tate, Georgia. The Memorial was designed by Henry Hombostel and Eric F. Wood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and cost $783,103 to build. It sits on a 10-acre site, the landscaping of which was part of the overall design.

History

On October 11, 1923, about two months after the sudden death of President Warren G. Harding, the Harding Memorial Association began a nationwide campaign to fund construction of a memorial. Over a million contributors from all parts of the United States and the Philippines, as well as several European countries, contributed a total of $977,821. The total included about 200,000 pennies collected by schoolchildren. The President's body remained in a special vault in the Marion, Ohio, Cemetery during the fund-raising campaign and construction period. Florence Harding died about a year after her husband, and her body was also placed in the special vault. Both were moved to the Memorial and buried there in December 1927, and the Memorial was officially dedicated by President Herbert Hoover on June 16, 1931. The Memorial is currently maintained by the Ohio Historical Society.

SEE ALSO
President Herbert Hoover

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SKC Films Library >> American History >> United States: General History and Description >> Early 20th Century, 1901-1960 >> Warren G. Harding's Administration, 1921-1923 >> Warren Gamaliel Harding

This page was last updated on March 19, 2017.