The original two-story eight-room house had a total of approximately 924 square feet (86 m2), and was moved twice before it was destroyed by fire in 1937.
The McKinley Memorial Library was granted the site at 40 South Main Street in 2001, and quickly acquired one additional lot for the future Birthplace Home and Research Center.
Youngstown, Ohio-based architecture firm Olsavsky-Jaminet headed design efforts, aided by DSV Builders as general contractors.
[1] The two-story structure is physically larger and only bears a slight resemblance to historic photographs of McKinley's actual birthplace.
The current facility houses a library of McKinley materials, a gift shop, meeting space, and a computer lab.