Location Staunton, Virginia NRHP Reference # 66000926 Opened 1846 Named for Woodrow Wilson | Built 1846 VLR # 132-0004 Phone +1 540-885-0897 Added to NRHP 15 October 1966 | |
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Location Staunton, Virginia, United States Management Woodrow Wilson Birthplace Foundation Address 20 N Coalter St, Staunton, VA 24401, USA Hours Open today · 9AM–5PMWednesday9AM–5PMThursday9AM–5PMFriday9AM–5PMSaturday9AM–5PMSunday12–5PMMonday9AM–5PMTuesday9AM–5PMSuggest an edit Architectural style Greek Revival architecture Similar Frontier Culture Museum, The Camera Heritage, Gypsy Hill Park, Stonewall Jackson Hotel, Woodrow Wilson House Profiles | ||
The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library houses Woodrow Wilson materials from during and immediately after his lifetime, memoirs of those who worked with him, and governmental volumes concerning World War I. The library is located at the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace, at 18–24 North Coalter Street in Staunton, Virginia. The library is home to the Woodrow Wilson presidential car, a Pierce Arrow limousine.
However, the President's actual papers are located at Princeton University's Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library.
The Woodrow Wilson Birthplace is referred to as The Manse, which is the name of a Presbyterian minister's home. The Manse was constructed in 1846 by the Staunton First Presbyterian Church. It has twelve rooms with twelve fireplaces, and cost about $4,000 (equal to $106,622 today). The Wilson family moved into the house in 1855. At that time the family only consisted of his two parents, Jessie Woodrow Wilson and Joseph Ruggles Wilson, and their two daughters Marion and Annie, who were about four and two years old, respectively. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in what is now called the "birth room" on December 28, 1856. The Wilsons left The Manse in early 1858 when Joseph Wilson accepted a call from a congregation in Augusta, Georgia.
After the Wilsons moved out of The Manse it remained a Presybterian minister's home well into the 1920s. It was only after Woodrow Wilson's death that his widow, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, returned to Staunton with plans of creating a memorial. The house was restored to its 1850s look over the next 80 years, which included removing bathrooms, changing light fixtures, and stripping paint. Recently The Manse was restored to its original red brick, having been painted white for almost a century.
It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. It is located in the Gospel Hill Historic District.