On Sept. 6, 1901, President William McKinley was shot in Buffalo, N.Y. The president died eight days later. On Sept. 14, then-Vice President Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office in Buffalo to become the 26th president of the United States.
The house where Roosevelt ascended into the high office is still standing in Buffalo thanks to decades of activism and conservation work. The Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site is now a federal site, operating in cooperation with the National Park Service.
However, as of Aug. 5, the site has not yet received the funds it needs from the federal government to keep operating.
“We are the only national park site in the entire country that has not received their operating support for 2026,” said Site Superintendent Spencer Morgan. “We need to receive this by the end of September to make the fiscal year and to ensure that we can pay for our bills and pay payroll.”
Operation dollars have been coming later and later each year, Morgan said. Funds that used to be received in February or March are now being dispersed as late as September.
This year has brought unique complications as well, said Morgan. The White House has used the maintenance money that would go to national parks sites across the country to prepare for America 250 celebrations in Washington, D.C.
“That White House priority list trumps the high and low priority list of the National Park Service,” Morgan said. “So while we are seeing the work that's being done in Washington at some of the federal sites, that's work being done with National Park Service dollars.”
In a statement to BTPM News, the Department of the Interior said the current administration is exploring other mechanisms to fund deferred maintenance, such as endowments and the sale of park passes.
“The National Park Service has not only been focused on beautifying the district for the 250th celebrations in our nation's capital but has also been working on many deferred maintenance projects throughout the country,” the department said.
For now, Morgan’s site has still not received its federal funding for the year. That means that the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site cannot replace its 16-year-old HVAC system or replace the Victorian roof on the historic building.
The inaugural site offers valuable services to the community, Morgan said, including hosting early voting, offering free field trips for fourth graders and educating the public on the start of Roosevelt’s presidency.
“This truly is an example of what civics, art, and culture can do when they're all operating together,” said Morgan. “It really is a shame about the funding piece of who we are, while we are secure, we don't know what will happen tomorrow or next year.”