User:Shortiefourten/McKinley Stump

The McKinley Stump is a podium made of a large tree stump located in Chehalis, Washington.

History
Located at the Lewis County Historical Museum is the McKinley Stump, a replica of a 6 foot tall remnant of a Douglas fir cut down in 1901 near Pe Ell. Dated between 360 and 700 years old, it was meant to be used as a speech pedestal for President William McKinley, but the event was cancelled. Theodore Roosevelt used it two years later and William H. Taft employed the stump as a podium in 1907. The artifact was originally placed in downtown under a pagoda, but was moved to the railroad depot and then to Recreation Park after damages due to arson in the late 1940s. After an infestation of carpenter ants and subsequent rot, the stump was removed from the park in 2007 and a replica stump, cut from Tenino, was installed at the museum in 2008 with a restored pagoda and a display of an undamaged slab of the original stump.

In 1959, a tree stump meant to be a platform for a visit from President William McKinley was transferred to the park. Known in Chehalis as the "McKinley Stump", it was removed in 2007 due to severe damage from carpenter ants.