The National First Ladies Library & Museum is planning a new downtown Canton home for objects that, for now, mostly have to live somewhere else. The First Ladies Experience is a $4.5 million project, with construction aimed at January 2027 and an opening in early 2028.
As The Repository reported, the organization wants a modern building of about 4,000 square feet, laid out as eight interconnected exhibition areas, including spaces that can work as a small theater. Stark County firm SoL Harris/Day is the architect. The new museum is meant to replace the current one in the former City National Bank building.
Gowns That Cannot Take the Light
The practical problem is preservation. Some gowns and other artifacts currently have to stay off-site in storage. Temperature and humidity controls, plus UV protection, are expected to let the new building show more of the authentic pieces.
The controls address a basic conservation tradeoff: textiles are highly sensitive to light, and filtering ultraviolet rays alone does not prevent damage. The Canadian Conservation Institute advises museums to limit visible-light exposure as well, because light damage can be permanent. That makes lighting and the length of time a gown is displayed part of preservation planning—not just exhibit design. A protective case and climate controls can help bring garments into view, but they do not necessarily mean every piece can stay on display continuously. The institute’s textile-preservation guidance details those risks.
That is the whole point of spending museum money on air and glass. A collection you cannot safely display is a collection the public is mostly hearing about. Captioned media is also planned, alongside video and audio displays and traditional written exhibits. Cleveland.com reports the new museum is expected to include dozens of interactive exhibits and activities.
The planned layout gets specific. Cleveland.com describes a 13-foot-tall glass case for eight first lady gowns, viewable from all sides, and a replica of the White House West Sitting Room as it appeared in the early 1960s. Visitors would be able to sit on a replica couch and look through Kennedy family photos. David Lee, who announced the project, described that room as the museum's most Instagrammable space.
Canton’s project joins a long-running museum tradition of using first ladies’ clothing to tell a broader story about women and the presidency. The Smithsonian’s First Ladies Collection began in 1912, when Helen Taft donated her inaugural gown; its exhibition now features more than two dozen gowns, alongside interpretation of the position’s changing public role. The Smithsonian has also rotated dresses on and off view to protect them, underscoring the balance between display and conservation that the Canton plans will have to manage. The Smithsonian exhibition includes gowns from Frances Cleveland to Michelle Obama.
Exhibit areas are slated to include Before the Title, Life Behind the White House Doors, and Advocacy & Action. Jennifer George said the new museum would allow better stewardship of the stories.
A Parking Lot Beside a Childhood Home
The site is not a blank downtown parcel in the abstract. Cleveland.com reports the building would occupy a 4,000-square-foot parking lot next to the Saxton-McKinley House, about a half-block south of the current museum at 205 S. Market Ave.
The house was the childhood home of Ida Saxton McKinley, wife of William McKinley, the 25th president. The museum and historic home are typically toured together as a picture of the nation's 54 first ladies. The National First Ladies Museum & Library works with the National Park Service to operate both.
The institution itself is a Canton project with a federal designation attached. Mary Regula, wife of longtime U.S. Rep. Ralph Regula, a Canton Republican, founded the National First Ladies Library in Canton in 1995. In 2000, President Bill Clinton signed legislation designating the house and library as the First Ladies National Historic Site.
The nonprofit’s holdings extend well beyond clothing: its archive includes more than 5,000 artifacts and over 1,000 books and scholarly works. The collection ranges from campaign materials and personal correspondence to three-dimensional objects, giving the planned galleries a larger pool of material for stories about first ladies’ public and private lives. The organization describes its work as a partnership with the National Park Service at the historic site. The archive’s scale and scope help explain why expanded exhibition space is central to the project.
The current museum sits in the City National Bank building, constructed in 1895. That former bank also holds offices and storage. The new building is supposed to replace the museum there, not the house next door.
$200,000 From the State
The price and the public contribution are not the same number. The Repository reports funding from donors and private philanthropists, including $200,000 in state funding. Against a $4.5 million building, that state share is a start, not a construction budget.
Cleveland.com adds that museum officials have raised approximately $1.8 million of the $4.5 million cost. Even on that accounting, most of the project is still ahead of the organization. Shovels in January 2027 assume the rest of the money, and the building, keep to the schedule the museum is now describing.
The Bank Building's Undecided Next Life
The current museum is expected to remain open until the new facility is finished in early 2028. What happens to the 1895 bank building after that is not settled. Lisa Petit said the federal government has not decided.
Until then, the public version of the First Ladies Experience is still a plan, a parking lot, and a set of artifacts waiting on climate control. The opening target is early 2028. The old building's next use is the question nobody in the reporting has answered yet.
