Benjamin Harrison — the nation’s 23rd president — visited 130 years ago.

A former President of the United States of America did visit Monmouth Beach or what it was to become (the area was officially part of Ocean Twp. from 1849 to 1906). All three local daily newspapers of the age -– the Long Branch Daily Record, Red Bank Daily Register and Asbury Park Press -– have reports about the ex-POTUS stay in Monmouth Beach.

President Harrison

Benjamin Harrison, America’s 23rd President, was a summer guest here in the mid-1890s when the location was an exclusive coastal resort community run by the Monmouth Beach Association. The former President’s companions at his “Monmouth Beach cottage” were his daughter, Mary Scott McKee, and his grandchildren. He also visited the ritzy Monmouth Beach Clubhouse Hotel on Beach Road.

So it appears that an early “Summer White House” may well have been in “Monmouth Beach.” There are also reports of his summering in Long Branch and Sea Bright. President Harrison — who served from 1889 to 1893 — owned a 10,000 square-foot custom-built mansion in Indianapolis at the time. Today it’s his presidential museum. In the 1888 US Presidential Election, he ran the last of the “front porch” campaigns and narrowly prevailed — winning the Electoral College but losing the popular vote (sound familiar?)

Monmouth Beach Clubhouse Hotel — HISTORY and PHOTOS

Ohio born in August 1883, Harrison had a record of responsibility and prestige before his presidency. Driven and successful all his life — a Civil War general, US senator, and prosperous Indiana lawyer — he also had a lofty pedigree. His grandfather, William Henry Harrison, was the nation’s ninth president in 1841 and his great-grandfather (also Benjamin Harrison) signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Among his distinctions in office: Harrison is the only President to serve between the two terms of another (those of Grover Cleveland); he opened Ellis Island and was an early advocate for voting rights; 6 states joined the Union during his term, most ever; he was the last president to wear a beard (five of the previous seven had them) and the first to have his voice recorded; and the first to have electricity in the White House. His wife died while he was campaigning for re-election in 1892 (losing by just 3% out of 12 million votes cast).

A gifted speaker — the larger the crowd the more effective he became. Democrats called him “Little Ben.” At 5 feet, 6 inches, he tops just one other president (James Madison was shorter by 2 inches). And even with all his love of our shore area, he never carried New Jersey, losing the state in both presidential races. President Harrison died in March 1901 in Indianapolis at age 67.

The White House

According to a July 1897 New York Times report, President William McKinley was scheduled to stay at the clubhouse hotel that summer as a guest of the Houghtons, the owners. I couldn’t confirm he made the visit. According to a July 1902 Waterbury Evening Post story, President Teddy Roosevelt passed through Monmouth Beach by train where a crowd at the station cheered him and waved flags. With the president  was his wife Alice, NJ Governor Franklin Murphy, and US Senator John Kean — all on the way to see the national guard encampment at Sea Girt.

According to a September 1916 Washington Herald report, Vice  President Thomas Marshall and his wife stayed in Monmouth Beach for a weekend prior to joining President Woodrow Wilson at Shadow Lawn.

In the neighborhood — Map of the Monmouth Beach Clubhouse Hotel area when a president was visiting, Sanborn, 1890.

High Society — Monmouth Beach Clubhouse Hotel when it was hosted an American president and other luminaries, 1890s.

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When it comes to presidential visits to New Jersey, our neighbor to the south, the city of Long Branch, played the big time — claiming to have hosted seven American presidents in its heydays, including the Republican Harrison — MORE HERE.

Beginning in 1867, soon-to-be-elected President Ulysses S. Grant visited Long Branch and fell in love with the area. He would return every summer during his eight years (1869-1877) as the nation’s chief executive. He owned a home in Long Branch and may even have visited the Monmouth Beach area. According to Entertaining a Nation, the hero general loved to get around. He was known to “wildly” race his horse & buggy up and down the beach for miles.

The seven American presidents (with their terms in office) to visit Long Branch were: US Grant (1869-1877), Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881), James A. Garfield (1881), Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885), Harrison, William McKinley (1897-1901), and Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921). Garfield died in Elberon from his assassination wounds.

Local News and the President …

Dinner with the ex-President. Red Bank Register, August 1894.

A former US President — resident of Monmouth Beach, APP August 1894.

Ex-President Benjamin Harrison’s family activities in MB, APP October 1894.

President Harrison with his grandson, Benjamin Harrison “Baby” McKee (1887-1958), 1890s. The child grew up at the White House.

Hail to the ex-Chief — The house of Col. William Barbour on Ocean Avenue, Long Branch Daily Record, 1901. Barbour hosted a summer dinner party here to honor and welcome former President Benjamin Harrison to town in August 1894.

Presidential Angling — A gamey newspaper story about Abram Jerolamon and Benjamin Harrison — during the ex-President’s 1894 summer vacation in Monmouth Beach. Long Branch Daily Record, August 1930 “Gay Nineties Edition.” More about the Jerolamon family — HERE.