Canton's West Lawn Cemetery is best known as the original burial site of President William McKinley, who was assassinated in 1901. But, it is also the final resting place of thousands of Canton citizens, including some of the most influential and famous residents in the city's history. Names like "Boss" Hoover, H.H. Timken, and John Saxton stand out among the gravestones. Canton's industrialists, inventors, politicians, and entrepreneurs who are buried here left legacies such as hospitals, companies, buildings, and one of the oldest newspapers in Ohio. Cemeteries are important links to our past, and Canton's West Lawn Cemetery explores Canton's own history through the stories of these interred citizens.
Kimberly A. Kenney, author of Canton: A Journey Through Time, is the curator of the Wm. McKinley Presidential Library & Museum. Kenney compiled this look at Canton's history through historic images from the Stark County Historical Society, and current photographs from her own collection.