Commems Collection Classic: 1922 Grant Memorial - Traveling Birthplace House

I've written before about Ulysses S. Grant's birthplace home (see: 1922 Grant Memorial - Grant's Birthplace?, but wanted to return to the topic to share a lesser-known story about the Point Pleasant house.

Ulysses S. Grant Birthplace House, Point Pleasant, OH

(Image Credit: James Grant Wilson, ed., The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. 3. Published in 1914; taken in 1864. Public Domain.)

The depiction of the Grant house on the gold and silver Grant commemorative coins is not a depiction of the house circa 1922. In 1922, the original Grant house was located in Columbus, Ohio. At the time, it was owned by Henry Chittendon who had purchased the house for $3,000 following its time on display at the 1888 Centennial Exposition of the Ohio Valley and Central States in Cincinnati, Ohio. Chittendon moved the house to Columbus, Ohio - first to Goodale Park and then to the Ohio State Fair Grounds. (Side note: Grant died from throat cancer in 1885 at his home in New York and was actively being mourned/honored across the country.)

Supporters of Grant, including the U. S. Grant Memorial Centenary Association, the coin sponsor, wanted to move his original birthplace house back to Point Pleasant, Ohio and position it on its original site - the efforts gained some momentum in 1922, the Birth Centenary year, but did not result in a move. (A replica had been built on the site and served as a Grant museum while the original was "away.")

It wasn't until circa 1936-1937, that the original Grant birthplace house was moved from its protective shelter at the Ohio State Fairgrounds in Columbus to its original site in Point Pleasant. The replica was re-located, and the original was reconstructed on its original foundation.

Laura Gardin Fraser developed her coin designs for the 1922 Grant coins using existing photographs for both the obverse and reverse. The 1864 photograph above is a potential reverse design source; it pre-dates the house's move to Cincinnati for the Exposition and is thus the original house. (A US Civil war era photograph of Grant by Matthew Brady was the reference source for the coin's obverse portrait.)

1922 Ulysses S. Grant Birth Centenary Silver Half Dollar - Star Variety



For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more Grant half dollar stories, see: Commems Collection.