William Howard Taft National Historic Site, in Cincinnati, Ohio, preserves the boyhood home of William Howard Taft, the 27th president of the United States and the 10th chief justice of the United States. Taft is the only person in U.S. history to have served as both president and chief justice.
In 1851, Taft’s father, a lawyer named Alphonso Taft, moved to the yellow, two-story home in Mount Auburn, a wealthy neighborhood in Cincinnati. Alphonso Taft installed new plumbing and constructed an addition to the home to provide more room for his second wife, Louise Maria Torrey Taft, and his growing family. On Sept. 15, 1857, William Howard Taft was born. William grew up in the home before leaving to attend Yale College in 1874. The Taft family owned the house until 1889.
Visitors to the William Howard Taft National Historic Site can tour four rooms that have been furnished to look as they would have during Taft’s youth. Many of the furnishings once belonged to the Tafts. Others are antiques produced in the Cincinnati area. Several other rooms have exhibits on Taft’s early life and political career. Family portraits and books belonging to Taft’s father, an enthusiastic book collector, are also on display.
In the Taft Education Center, next to the Taft home, visitors may view a film about Taft’s life and career. The center also features exhibits that highlight the accomplishments of Taft’s brothers and sister and of later generations of Tafts.
A group called the Taft Memorial Association saved the house from being demolished in 1938, eight years after Taft’s death. The Taft home became a national historic site in 1969. Historians used clues found in Taft family diaries and letters to make the house look as it did when the Tafts lived there.
