MacNaughton Cottage, Tahawus Club, 1910
Timeline Precursor
Theodore Roosevelt and his family were invited to the Adirondack Mountains by James MacNaughton, President of the MacIntyre Iron Company. MacNaughton offered a month’s lodging for the family at his Upper Works Tahawus Club cottage in Newcomb, New York. Theodore left New York City by train for a speaking tour in Vermont, while Edith Roosevelt and the children headed up the Hudson River to Albany by boat, and then by train to North Creek, the northern terminus of the railroad. From there, it was overland by carriage to the Tahawus Club, where they arrived on September 1, 1901 .
Friday, September 6, 1901
President William McKinley is shot while attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt receives word of the assassination attempt at 5:30 P.M. while attending the annual meeting of the Vermont Fish and Game League at the home of former Lt. Governor Nelson Fisk on Isle La Motte, an island in Lake Champlain. He immediately leaves the event and, after a brief stop in Burlington, Vermont, boards a train bound for Buffalo, so that he may be near the wounded president.
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President William McKinley speaking at the
Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo
Saturday, September 7
By midday, Roosevelt’s special train arrives in Buffalo, where he meets an old friend, attorney Ansley Wilcox. Roosevelt accepts an invitation to stay at the Wilcox home, where a temporary office is set up for the vice president.
Saturday, September 8
Along with his host, Roosevelt attends morning services at Buffalo’s First Presbyterian Church. He then makes a brief visit to the private home where President McKinley is resting after surgery. Regular bulletins, issued by the president’s doctors, keep Roosevelt and the rest of the country updated on his condition.
Saturday, September 9
Roosevelt and his secretary spend the morning answering mail and using the specially-installed telegraph to send messages from the Wilcox home. Later, Roosevelt follows a walk to visit President McKinley with a longer walk around the city.
Tuesday, September 10
Having been assured by doctors that President McKinley would fully recover from his wounds, Theodore Roosevelt leaves Buffalo at 9:50 P.M., to join his family in the Adirondacks. He entrusts his itinerary and contact information to Ansley Wilcox, in the unlikely event that his presence was needed back in Buffalo.
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Lower Works Club House, Tahawus, 1890s
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Wednesday, September 11
Edith rides down the 10 miles from the Upper Works Club House to the Lower Works Club House to meet Theodore. They ride together back to the Club at Upper Works just as the sun is setting.
Thursday, September 12 –
from Edith’s Diary:
“Started in pouring rain after lunch and walked to Colden camp, where we spent the night . . .. Theodore, Ethel, Kermit, Miss Young [the nanny], Mr. MacNaughton, the two Robinson boys [recent Harvard graduates and Club members], and myself. We all enjoyed it greatly. There are two comfortable little log houses to sleep in with big fires.”
Two Tahawus Club guides, Ed Dimick and Noah LaCasse, provided their services for the party.
First Lady Edith Roosevelt, 1900s
Overnight (Thursday, September 12 – Friday, September 13)
President McKinley’s condition suddenly worsens and, in the middle of the night, Ansley Wilcox must find a way to get an urgent message to Theodore Roosevelt.
Friday, September 13
As it is still raining in the morning, Edith and the family return to the Club House at Upper Works with guide Ed Dimick.
Friday, September 13, 1901
The Club Era, Tahawus Club Bird’s-Eye View, 1935
8:00 A.M. At the Lower Works Club House in Tahawus, a message arrives stating that the President’s condition had worsened and Roosevelt should return to Buffalo. The end of the telephone line at the time was in the Hamlet of Tahawus 10 miles south of the Upper Works Club House. Telephone messages from there had to be relayed by wagon the two hours north to the Upper Works.
9:00 A.M. Theodore, James MacNaughton, and Herman and Beverley Robinson are guided by Noah LaCasse on a climb up Mount Marcy, the tallest peak in New York State.
10:00 A.M. The message from Tahawus arrives at the Upper Works Club House. Club guide Harrison Hall is selected to deliver the news to Roosevelt.
10:30 A.M. Club guide Harrison Hall leaves to deliver the message to Roosevelt, and on his way meets the family party returning from Lake Colden. Hall is told by guide Ed Dimick that Roosevelt is climbing Mount Marcy.
11:52 A.M. The Mount Marcy party reaches the summit. The weather is not good, with only one break in the clouds long enough to enjoy the views. They return down the trail for lunch at Lake Tear of the Clouds, where they had left their pack baskets during their ascent.
2:00 P.M. Harrison Hall arrives at Lake Tear of the Clouds and delivers the message to Roosevelt. They immediately pack up and head back down the trail to the Upper Works Club House.
5:30 P.M. The Mount Marcy party arrives at the Upper Works Club House. Roosevelt finds no new dispatches from Buffalo. He sends messages of his own to Tahawus asking for further word. Then, he makes arrangements to leave in the morning for the train station at North Creek. He tells Edith he will not leave until he knows absolutely he is needed.
11:00 P.M. An urgent dispatch from Secretary of War Elihu Root, who is in Buffalo, arrives at the Upper Works. The President appears to be dying.
11:31 P.M. Theodore Roosevelt throws his valise in the back of Club Superintendent David Hunter’s light wagon, which is being pulled by a single logging horse, and his Night Ride to the Presidency begins.
Saturday, September 14, 1901
1:29 A.M. Roosevelt arrives at the Lower Works Club House in Tahawus. He locates the telephone and sends word to North Creek. Talking to his secretary, William Loeb Jr., he learns that the President is dying, which lends more urgency to his journey. He dictates a telegram response to Root, which was sent from North Creek at 1:32 A.M.
1:35 A.M. Roosevelt climbs into the back seat of Orrin Kellogg’s wagon, which is being drawn by two horses, for the next leg of his ride to North Creek. They then depart for Aiden Lair, which is located nine miles to the south.
2:15 A.M. President William McKinley dies. Theodore Roosevelt becomes the 26th President of the United States of America. A memorial plaque marks the approximate spot where Roosevelt became President, three miles from Tahawus.
Official Marker of Theodore Roosevelt’s Ascent to the Presidency, Newcomb, New York
3:36 A.M. Roosevelt arrives at Aiden Lair, where Michael Cronin, proprietor of the Aiden Lair Lodge, was waiting with a surrey hitched to two black Morgan horses. The exchange of rides is rapid, with Roosevelt taking the lantern from Cronin, and climbing on board the front seat for the 16-mile final leg of the journey to North Creek.
Aiden Lair Lodge, Minerva, New York
3:41 A.M. Roosevelt and Cronin depart Aiden Lair for North Creek. The first seven miles to Minerva takes an hour. However, as dawn’s early light breaks over the fields, Cronin can see the road and picks up the pace, covering the last nine miles in a record forty-one minutes.
5:22 A.M. As dawn arrives in North Creek, the surrey thunders over the Hudson River bridge, arriving at the railroad depot where a special Delaware & Hudson train has been waiting since noon on the 13th. Here Roosevelt reads the telegram saying that President McKinley had died at 2:15 AM, and he is now President. This ends Roosevelt’s Night Ride to the Presidency. The train with Roosevelt, Secretary Loeb, and D&H Superintendent C.D.
Hammond leave immediately for Buffalo.
North Creek Rail Road Station, North Creek, NY
1:33 P.M. Roosevelt arrives at Buffalo’s Terrace Station in record time. He is whisked away by private carriage with a mounted police escort to the home of Ansley Wilcox. There, Roosevelt has a quick lunch and borrows a frock coat, waistcoat and trousers from his host, since he’d brought nothing but his traveling clothes from the Adirondacks.
2:37 P.M. Roosevelt, accompanied by Ansley Wilcox and escorted by mounted policemen, travels by carriage to the private home where President McKinley died – only one mile from the Wilcox home. Although Roosevelt had hoped to pay his respects to the president’s widow, Mrs. McKinley is too distraught to see him.
3:31 P.M. United States District Judge John R. Hazel inaugurates Theodore Roosevelt as the nation’s 26th president in the library of the Wilcox home. Approximately 45 people witness the brief, and highly emotional, ceremony. No photos are taken.
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site