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Notable people · President · Military

Rutherford B. Hayes

Nineteenth president, three-time governor of Ohio, and the president whose Fremont estate holds the first presidential library.

Born October 4, 1822, Delaware
Died January 17, 1893, Spiegel Grove, Fremont

Rutherford B. Hayes
Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born
October 4, 1822, Delaware (Delaware County) source
Died
January 17, 1893, Spiegel Grove, Fremont (Sandusky County) source
Buried
Spiegel Grove, Fremont (moved from Oakwood Cemetery in 1915) (Sandusky County) source
Also known as
Rutherford B. Hayes
Education
Norwalk Seminary, Norwalk, OH, 1836
Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, 1838-1842, BA, valedictorian
Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, 1843-1845, LL.B.
Known as
President, Military
Organizations
Kenyon College, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums

Life story

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio, in October 1822, a few months after his father died. His mother Sophia and his uncle Sardis Birchard raised him and his sister Fanny.

He studied at Norwalk Seminary and in Connecticut, then graduated first in his class from Kenyon College in 1842 and took a law degree at Harvard. He practiced law in Fremont and from 1850 in Cincinnati, where he married Lucy Webb in 1852 and became city solicitor.

In the Civil War he led Ohio troops, was wounded at South Mountain in 1862, and ended as a brevet major general. He went to Congress and was elected Ohio governor three times, the first person to win three terms there.

He took the presidency in 1877 after the disputed 1876 election. He retired to Spiegel Grove in Fremont and died there in 1893; his home and presidential library stand on the same grounds.

Ohio ties

Timeline

  1. 1822 Born October 4 in Delaware, Ohio, about ten weeks after his father's death. source
  2. 1842 Graduated from Kenyon College as valedictorian. source
  3. 1845 Admitted to the Ohio bar and began practice in Lower Sandusky. source
  4. 1850 Moved his law practice to Cincinnati. source
  5. 1852 Married Lucy Webb on December 30. source
  6. 1862 Seriously wounded in the arm at South Mountain while serving with the 23rd Ohio Infantry. source
  7. 1865 Took his seat in the U.S. House (served to 1867). source
  8. 1868 Became governor of Ohio, serving two terms to 1872. source
  9. 1873 Moved into Spiegel Grove, the Fremont house his uncle Sardis Birchard had built around 1860. source
  10. 1876 Began a third term as governor, then won the presidency when an Electoral Commission awarded him 20 disputed electoral votes, 185-184. source
  11. 1887 Appointed to the Ohio State University Board of Trustees. source
  12. 1893 Died January 17 at Spiegel Grove and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Fremont. source
  13. 1915 His and Lucy's remains were moved from Oakwood Cemetery to Spiegel Grove. source
  14. 1916 The Hayes Memorial library and museum opened at Spiegel Grove. source
  15. 1928 Congress authorized giving iron gates from the White House grounds on West Executive Avenue to Ohio for Spiegel Grove's entrances. source

What Rutherford is known for

  • 19th US president
  • Governor of Ohio 1868-72 and 1876-77
  • Union brevet major general

Stories

White House gates in Fremont

The gateways into Spiegel Grove carry iron gates that once stood on West Executive Avenue at the White House. In 1928 Congress authorized giving the gates to the State of Ohio, and the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection) set them at the estate's entrances. There are six gateways: Buckland, Croghan, Harrison, Grover Cleveland, McPherson and Memorial. The McPherson Gateway honors Gen. James B. McPherson of Clyde and Capt. Samuel Thompson of Fremont. The Memorial Gateway in front of the library honors Edgar Thurston, killed in France in World War I, George B. Meek, the first American killed in the Spanish-American War, and all Sandusky County men who died in those wars.

Source

A birthplace under a gas station

Hayes was born in a brick house on East William Street in Delaware, which his family rented for only a few years. Where exactly in Delaware he was born was argued about until the 1950s. The frame part of the house burned in 1910, and the run-down remainder was torn down in 1926. The lot became a Standard Oil station and is now a BP station at 17 East William Street. The Daughters of the American Revolution placed a marker there after the demolition, and a newer historical marker went up in 2020.

Source

Spiegel Grove's mirror pools

Sardis Birchard, the uncle who helped raise Hayes, built the Fremont house around 1860. He named the estate Spiegel Grove, from the German and Dutch word for mirror, after the pools that formed on the grounds after rain and reflected the trees. Hayes moved in in 1873 and lived there until his death in 1893. Hayes and Lucy were first buried in Oakwood Cemetery, but after the estate was given to Ohio their remains were moved to Spiegel Grove in 1915.

Source

Honors and things named for them

  • Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Fremont, OH
  • Brevet major general, US Volunteers
  • Only person elected Ohio governor three times (as of his era)

Named for Rutherford B. Hayes

Family

  • wife: Lucy Webb Hayes
  • mother: Sophia Birchard Hayes
  • uncle: Sardis Birchard
  • son: Birchard Austin Hayes
  • son: Webb Cook Hayes
  • son: Rutherford Platt Hayes

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments; the numbered ones are on the map.

1
  • 1 Spiegel Grove (Hayes home, tomb and Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums)
    Fremont Sandusky County · source
  • Hayes birthplace site, 17 E. William St. (now a BP station; DAR and 2020 markers) (demolished)
    Delaware Delaware County · source
  • Hayes Hall, Ohio State University
    Columbus Franklin County · source

Places in Ohio to see

Ohio places

Where Rutherford B. Hayes was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

In their words

An officer fit for duty who at this crisis would abandon his post to electioneer for a seat in Congress ought to be scalped.

Myths and corrections

  • Disputed: One source gives the year of Hayes's Harvard Law degree as 1843, while another gives 1845; he was admitted to the bar in 1845.

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

  • U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jeff Hotz, a bugler with the 338th Army Band, U.S. Army Reserve performs taps in remembrance of for
    U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jeff Hotz, a bugler with the 338th Army Band, U.S. Army Reserve performs taps in remembra...
    Public domain
  • Governor of Ohio and Presidential Candidate Rutherford B. Hayes and "mountain man" Seth Kinman on September 18, 1876 whe
    Governor of Ohio and Presidential Candidate Rutherford B. Hayes and "mountain man" Seth Kinman on September 18...
    Public domain
  • Title: A cabinet meeting at the White House- Pres. Hayes, John Sherman [Secy. of the Treasury], R.W. Thompson [Secy. of
    Title: A cabinet meeting at the White House- Pres. Hayes, John Sherman [Secy. of the Treasury], R.W. Thompson ...
    Public domain
  • Rutherford B. Hayes
    No known restrictions
  • Rutherford B. Hayes
    No known restrictions
  • Portrait photograph of President of the United States Rutherford B. Hayes
    Portrait photograph of President of the United States Rutherford B. Hayes
    Public domain
  • Steel portrait engraving of Rutherford B. Hayes.
    Steel portrait engraving of Rutherford B. Hayes.
    Public domain
  • President Hayes
    President Hayes
    Public domain
  • Brady, Mathew B.: Rutherford B. Hayes
    Brady, Mathew B.: Rutherford B. Hayes
    Public domain
  • Illustration of the unveiling of a statue of American poet Fitz-Greene Halleck in New York City, 1877. Original caption:
    Illustration of the unveiling of a statue of American poet Fitz-Greene Halleck in New York City, 1877. Origina...
    Public domain
  • Rutherford B. Hayes
    Public domain
  • Rutherford B. Hayes
    Public domain

Further reading

Sources

Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.

Every link goes to the original source. Profile researched 2026-10-14.

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