The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Officials preview exhibit of Garfield’s dresses
On what would have been Lucretia Garfield’s 184th birthday, the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor welcomed area officials and other history groups to preview a temporary exhibit of six of her dresses.
The exhibit opens to the public on April 21.
Debbie Weinkamer of Mentor, who plays Lucretia Garfield at many events, was dressed in black mourning garb, complete with a black-edged hanky, as she welcomed visitors. The April 19 reception included small group tours of the home, purchased as a nine-room farmhouse by the Garfields in 1876, and expanded to 20 rooms soon
“Lucretia’s Dresses” will be displayed through July 31.
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The home’s wide front porch became the backdrop for Garfield’s successful presidential 1880 bid. A small building next door, which had served as his library, was transformed into his campaign headquarters and an office for the press with a telegraph. It was those reporters who gave Garfield’s home the nickname “Lawnfield.”
After Garfield was assassinated in 1881, Lucretia and their five children returned to Mentor from Washington, D.C. and Garfield family members lived in the home for the next 60 years.
Lucretia expanded the home to its current 29 rooms to include the first Presidential Memorial Library and lived in Cleveland for a time while that work was being completed.
“Lucretia’s Dresses” will be displayed through July 31. When visitors come to see them, they will be escorted in small groups by trained volunteers who can tell about the house, the Garfields and each of the dresses. All of them were worn by Lucretia Garfield in the 1870s and later when she was the wife of a congressman, the first lady, and a widow for 36 years until her death.