What can one really say about visiting the birthplace of our 23rd President? I’m sure I’ll come up with something.
| President | Benjamin Harrison |
| Location | North Bend, Ohio |
| Operated By | The historic marker lists three entities: The Ohio Bicentennial Commission Village of North Bend The Ohio Historical Society |
| When Visited | October 25, 2019 |
| Who With | Visited by myself |
| Presidential Significance | Benjamin Harrison was born here |
| Pre-Visit Reading | Honesty, nothing on Benjamin Harrison. |
Benjamin Harrison is a President I’ve always thought of in terms of his relationships to other, more notable Presidents.
He was the grandson of William Henry Harrison, who famously served the shortest term as President, at just 31 days.
He’s also the nondescript filling in the middle of a Grover Cleveland sandwich. Or maybe it’s technically more accurate to say that Grover Cleveland the at-least-mildly-interesting bread in a Benjamin Harrison sandwich. As a society, we generally do agree to name sandwiches based on what’s on the inside, don’t we? But no matter which lunchtime analogy you prefer, Harrison’s single term in office, served in between Cleveland’s first and second terms, is what gives Cleveland the distinction of being the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms.
Despite being a Presidential history buff, I really don’t know a ton about Benjamin Harrison himself or his presidency. In my my mind, he kind of gets lost in the sea of middle-aged white dudes with beards who presidented in the second half of the nineteenth century. And I’m apparently not alone in that.
Whether it be public polls or rankings by historians, he’s not a guy who gets a lot of recognition. Why? Looking back over a century later, he wasn’t a great President, but he wasn’t a terrible President either. Some events occurred and some things were accomplished during his term, but nothing too notable or exciting. Harrison’s distinction in the end may be that he was our country’s “Most Okay-est President.” Meh.
So perhaps it’s fitting that the birthplace of this unmemorable President is not even the most interesting Presidential history site within a half-mile radius. Just a few blocks away, his grandfather’s towering tomb sits atop a hill in its own dedicated park.
Meanwhile, Benjamin Harrison’s birthplace has its own dedicated historic marker. And…that’s it. His birthplace was not preserved, so the only sign (literally) of what it once was is the historic marker. The house in the picture at the top of this post is just the house that happens to be there now; it has no association with Harrison othering that being geographically located near where he was born. It sits on the corner of Washington and Symmes Avenues in North Bend, in a residential area that makes it seem a little creepy to pop out of your car and start taking random photos. But I, of course, did’t let that stop me from doing so.
My visit to Harrison’s birthplace was the fourth of five Presidential history sites I visited in Kentucky and Ohio that day. Between that, and 7-8 hours of driving to get to my ultimate destination for the evening, I didn’t have a lot of time to spend at Harrison’s birthplace. I was there under five minutes. It was more than sufficient.
Sarcastic remarks about Benjamin Harrison’s legacy and birthplace aside, I am glad that I stopped by and that organizations made the effort to put up the historic marker. Not every adventure in Presidential history needs to be momentous.