Temple of Music

BUFFALO, UNITED STATES · 1901

Temple of Music

A concert hall built for the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, demolished when the fair ended. It was here that President William McKinley was shot.

At a glance

The Temple of Music was the main auditorium and concert hall of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. It stood for only the few months of the fair, from May to November 1901. Its name promised a space for music, but its place in history was fixed by an act of violence.

History

The building was put up as part of the Pan-American Exposition, a world’s fair celebrating progress and unity across the Americas. On September 6, 1901, President William McKinley was greeting the public inside the hall. Leon Czolgosz approached him and fired a concealed revolver. McKinley died eight days later. Czolgosz was tried and executed. The Temple of Music came down with the rest of the fair’s temporary architecture.

What you see

Nothing remains of the building today. It was demolished after the exposition closed, as were most of the fair’s structures. Visitors to the site in Buffalo encounter a different landscape now. The Temple of Music survives only in photographs, postcards, and written accounts from those months in 1901.

Cultural significance

The shooting at the Temple of Music changed the course of American politics. McKinley’s death made Theodore Roosevelt president. The event also prompted the Secret Service to take on a permanent role protecting the president. The building itself, though short-lived, became the stage for one of the most consequential moments in early twentieth-century American history.

Key facts

Country: United States
City: Buffalo
Coordinates: 42.9386859, -78.8735908

Practical information & getting there

The Temple of Music no longer exists. The former exposition grounds are in the Delaware Park area of Buffalo. No plaque marks the exact spot of the shooting, and there is nothing to visit at the original site.

Sources & resources

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