#81 James A. Garfield NHS

James A. Garfield National Historic Site is a United States National Historic Site located in Mentor, Ohio. The site preserves the property associated with the 20th President of the United States, James Abram Garfield.Garfield acquired the home in 1876 to accommodate his large family. The home, named Lawnfield by reporters, was the site of the first successful front porch campaign in 1880. That same year, he had 11 more rooms added to the building to accommodate his large family. James A. Garfield was President from March 4, 1881, until his death on September 19, 1881. Four years after his assassination, the Memorial Library wing was added by Mrs. Garfield and her family - setting the precedent for presidential libraries.The Garfield family lived in the mansion up until 1936, when the house and all of its contents were given to the Western Reserve Historical Society by Garfield's children. Later, on December 28, 1980, the United States Congress would authorize it as a National Historic Site.Later in the 1990s, a $12.5 million restoration would take place over the course of six years, with a grand re-opening held in 1998.[2] The house was restored to its 1886-1899 farm furnishings through extensive research by the Denver Service Center of the National Park Service. Using documentation of the time, and detailed renovations, it is one of the most accurately designed of the 19th century Presidential sites. The James A. Garfield National Historic Site has since been operated by the National Park Service with the Western Reserve Historical Society.Of the hundreds of specimens of antique Victorian furniture, over 80% of it was owned by the Garfield family themselves in the 1880s. Many other were acquired or recreated by the National Park Service to supplement the collection. Ten wallpapers were also reproduced from either photographs or samples found under the layers of wallpaper that had accumulated over the years.