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Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site celebrates President’s birthday

Benjamin Harrison Presidential site celebrates president’s birthday

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Tuesday marks the only Hoosier President’s birthday, and the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site will open the former home for a special celebration.

To celebrate Harrison’s 191st birthday, staff will give free tours of the building’s first floor. There will also be plenty of cake to mark the occasion.

Throughout the home, reenactors will portray the president, his family, and staff to give visitors a look into what a late 1800s birthday party would look like.

Charles Hyde, president and CEO of the site, says people on the tour can ask questions about life at that time.

“They’ll get some of that additional context honoring the life of an American president,” Hyde said. [The actors will] just be sharing more of those family stories and just giving some greater understanding of what Harrison was thinking in terms of what he was trying to accomplish in Washington DC, [and] how he’s reflecting on this moment of his birthday.”

In celebration of the president’s birthday, a time capsule was dedicated early Tuesday morning at the presidential home to mark the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the house’s construction.

The capsule was filled with mementos from the house and 2024. It will be opened in 50 years to celebrate the home’s 200th anniversary and the 300th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution.

President Harrison’s great, great-grandson Kimball Harrison Morsman was there for the ceremony.

“We’ve been collecting notes and letters from our visitors from new citizens, from board members, from supporters over the past four months,” Hyde said. “We’ve been able to aggregate those into the time capsule and we have a number of other significant items.”

Admission is free, but people are asked to register online before coming to the site at 1230 N Delaware St. The president’s birthday celebration runs until 3 p.m. on Tuesday.