STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/MISSION & VISION STATEMENTS
MISSION: The mission of the President Benjamin Harrison Foundation is to increase public understanding of, appreciation for, and participation in the American system of self government through the life stories of an American President. Adopted by the President Benjamin Harrison Foundation Board of Directors on December 5, 2002.
VISION: The vision of the President Benjamin Harrison Foundation is the renewal and reinvigoration of the mutual covenant between governor and governed which is at the heart of the American experiment in self-government. Adopted by the President Benjamin Harrison Foundation Board of Directors on November 7, 2002.
PURPOSE: The President Benjamin Harrison Foundation, Inc., a not for profit, tax-exempt organization, is dedicated to maintaining and preserving the President Benjamin Harrison Home as a museum and memorial to the only President of the United States elected from the State of Indiana. Open to the public as an educational and historical service, the Home seeks to promote patriotism and citizenship through appropriate educational activities and by artfully exhibiting the Victorian time period as Harrison and his family might have experienced it. Summarized from the Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation of the President Benjamin Harrison Foundation, Inc. as approved by the Board of Directors on December 15, 1994.
HISTORY
As a successful attorney, Benjamin Harrison purchased a double lot on the west side of North Delaware Street at auction in 1867. In 1874 be began construction of his 16 room Italianate style house, a carriage house, brick drive and landscaping. The cost was $24,818.67. Except for the periods 1881 to 1887, when Harrison was in the US Senate and 1889 to 1893, the presidential years, Benjamin Harrison, his wife Caroline and their two children, Russell and Mary lived in the Delaware Street home.
After his presidency in 1893, Harrison returned to Indianapolis a widower. Caroline died in the White House in 1892. Harrison made several changes to the Delaware Street home including the addition of an English-Regency front porch, electricity and updated plumbing. In 1896 Harrison married his wife’s niece, Mary Lord Dimmick. Mary Lord and Benjamin had a daughter, Elizabeth, in 1897. Harrison died in the home on March 13, 1901.
After Harrison’s death, Mary and Elizabeth lived in the home until 1913 when they moved to New York. From 1913 to 1937, the house was rented to various families and eventually became a rooming house. In March of 1937 the Arthur Jordan Foundation purchased the house and furniture. The Arthur Jordan Foundation used the home as a dormitory for the female students in the Jordan Conservatory of Music housed in a readapted home on a south adjoining lot. The purchase of the home included a provision that the home would also be considered a memorial to Benjamin Harrison.
In 1951 the music school moved to Butler University where it continues to be known as Jordan College. As per their agreement with Mrs. Harrison the Arthur Jordan Foundation Trustees opened the Harrison Home to the public. In 1964 the United States Department of Interior named the home a National Historic Landmark. In 1966 the Jordan Foundation created the President Benjamin Harrison Foundation to maintain and operate the home in accordance with the statement of purpose.
Return to the Harrison Home main page
June 21, 2007