Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president, was inaugurated March 4, 1889, a year before the 1890 “Veterans Census.” John Philip Sousa’s Marine Band played at the Inaugural Ball inside the Pension Building.
His grandfather William Henry Harrison, the ninth president, had been inaugurated in 1841. A Virginian and an enslaver he died 31 days after his swearing-in.
For more information about Benjamin Harrison, William Henry Harrison (including his two-hour inauguration speech), and the Patent Office/Pension Building/National Building Museum, see these links:
Pension Building, 1918, 1st U.S. Colored Cavalry: Private Lives, Public Records, June 22, 2020
“Washington, Pension Office,” 1st U.S. Colored Cavalry: Private Lives, Pubic Records, July 29, 2019
Pension Building, Washington, DC , 1st U.S. Colored Cavalry: Private Lives, Public Records, December 31, 2018
NPS: Benjamin Harrison Home, Indiana
The White House: Benjamin Harrison
The White House: William Henry Harrison
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