Delaware Avenue brings you to number 641, the Ansley Wilcox House. This is the very room where, after the assassination of William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office as President of the United States on September 14, 1901. A New York historical marker outside the house points out that this was the site of Roosevelt’s inauguration, and you can almost feel the urgency of that day in the house’s walls.
The oldest part of this National Historic Site is the lone surviving structure from the Buffalo Barracks compound. In response to tensions with the British Province of Upper Canada, a military post was built in 1839 to ensure border security; the post once stretched from Allen Street to North Street and from Delaware Avenue to Main Street. The room under your feet began life in 1840 as an officers’ quarters for those barracks.
When the post was disbanded in 1845 the building reverted to private residence, and subsequent owners went on to add and demolish outbuildings and additions. Picture the historical marker outside recalling the day Theodore Roosevelt took his oath here after McKinley's assassination.