The McKinley Monument in Buffalo, New York is a tribute to the 25th President of the United States, William McKinley, who was assassinated while attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901.
The monument was designed by the architect Carrère and Hastings and sculptor Alexander Phimister Proctor, and was unveiled in 1907. It is located in Niagara Square, the center of Buffalo's government and civic activity, and is a prominent feature of the city's landscape.
In 1905, a model of the four lions that would surround the base of the McKinley Monument was completed by Alexander Phimister Proctor, who was a very popular American sculptor at the time. Each one of the lions would be sculpted four times larger than an actual lion and made entirely out of white marble. These lions were modeled after Sultan, a veteran lion from the Bronx Zoological Park and weighs approximately 12 tons and is 12 feet long.
The combination of traditional architecture (obelisk) and wild animals was relatively new to American art, but was expressed within this monument.
At the base of the column, the following inscriptions are found:
"This shaft was erected by the State of New York to honor the memory of William McKinley, twenty-fifth President of the United States of America."
"William McKinley was born at Niles, Ohio, January 29, 1843."
"Was enlisted in Twenty-third Ohio Volunteers June 11, 1865, as Major by brevet for gallantry under fire."
"William McKinley was elected to Congress as a Representative of Ohio in 1876, 1878, 1880, 1882, 1884, 1886."
"Was elected Governor of Ohio in 1891 and 1893, and President of the United States in 1896 and 1900."
"William McKinley died in Buffalo September 14, 1901."
"Victim of a treacherous assassin who shot the President as he was extending to him the hand of courtesy."
"The monument was built under the direction of a commission composed of E. H. Butler and George E. Matthews of Buffalo; John G. Milburn of New York, formerly of Buffalo, and at whose home President McKinley died, and E. A. Curtis of Fredonia."