The Society for the Preservation of
Boyhood Homes of Presidential Assassins presents:
The Giteau House
Our little town has two historic sights.
One you can read about in the history books. There's a bronze
plaque about it on the way into town. There's a bronze statue
commemorating the event in a little park, bettween the new library and
the vitamin factory, where it all happened. Something to do with
a tall skinny guy (later to be US President) argueing with a short guy.
The other has no plaque, and no place in elementary school history
books.
On the corner of busy street (the main drag through town) in the poor
half of town (and about half a block from my house), is the sadly decrepit
Giteau House.
This house may be the boyhood home of Charles Giteau, later infamous as
James
Garfield's assassin. "May be", because local legends
vary. Some say it was, others that it was a relative's
house. It was certainly in the family.
As I said, sadly in disrepair. Various groups have tried to
renovate the house, and failed due to the high expense of the project.
