Field NotesOhio

Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums

Fremont · Sandusky County · Northwest Ohio

The nation's first presidential library, on the grounds of the Hayes home

First presidential libraryOhio History Connection partner

Directions →Official source →

The home, museum and library of the 19th president in Fremont, on the grounds where he and Lucy Hayes are buried.

Estate: Spiegel Grove, a 25-acre estate with a 31-room mansion built between 1859 and 1863
Library: Ground broken in 1912; opened in 1916, the first presidential library, with Hayes's 12,000-volume personal library
Collection: About 13,000 artifacts of the Hayes family
President: Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president, in office from 1877 to 1881
Graves: Hayes and Lucy Hayes are buried on the grounds
Buckeye Trail: Fremont is on the Pemberville Section

The story

Rutherford B. Hayes lived at Spiegel Grove, the estate in Fremont that came to him from his uncle, before and after his presidency. The 31-room house was built between 1859 and 1863, and Hayes and his wife Lucy Webb Hayes, the first First Lady with a college degree, are buried on the grounds. His son Webb C. Hayes and his siblings deeded the estate to the State of Ohio, and ground was broken in 1912 for a museum building that opened in 1916 as the first presidential library in the United States, funded by the state and Webb Hayes.

Hayes became president in 1877 after the most disputed election in American history. Samuel Tilden won the popular vote by more than 250,000, but the electoral votes of Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina were disputed, and a fifteen-member Electoral Commission voted 8 to 7 to give them to Hayes, who took office by an electoral margin of 185 to 184 after a decision on March 2, 1877. What became known as the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction: in April 1877 Hayes withdrew the federal troops from South Carolina and Louisiana after their incoming Democratic governments promised to observe the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The promises were not kept. Southern Democrats disenfranchised Black voters through poll taxes, literacy tests and intimidation and built a segregated society enforced by terror and violence, while Hayes had little power to stop it, and historians still debate whether there was any formal deal. He also vetoed Democratic riders that would have repealed the federal election laws, and pushed for a merit-based civil service. The library and museum today hold about 13,000 artifacts of the family, the library, and the house, restored to the way it looked in his time from family photographs.

Related sites

Visiting information you can trust

Content last reviewed: September 2026 — this is when Field Notes Ohio's content was last checked, not a live status.
Primary official source: Official page
Location confidence: Verified entrance or visitor center
Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, Spiegel Grove, Fremont
Check current conditions: Official conditions or closures
Reservations or tickets: Tickets or admission info

Prices, hours, closures, campsite availability and trail conditions shown elsewhere on this page are not live — always confirm with the official source before you go.

The Election Nobody Won on Election Night

On election night in 1876 the papers said Tilden had won. Then a few Southern states with disputed returns were counted the other way, and for months no one knew who was president. A commission gave Hayes every disputed vote, one at a time, and he took office in March 1877.

The bargain that went with it ended Reconstruction. Hayes went home to Fremont after his term, and the estate he lived on became the first presidential library.

Behind the legend

The library dates and estate details are from the Ohio History Connection, the Sandusky County pages and Wikipedia. The account of the disputed 1876 election, the Electoral Commission's 8 to 7 vote, the 185 to 184 count, the troop withdrawals, the failed promises and the disenfranchisement of Black voters is from the Miller Center, the American Battlefield Trust, the EBSCO research starters and History.com. The Miller Center notes it is doubtful that Hayes and the Democrats reached any deal beyond what Hayes promised in his letter of acceptance. Hayes's civil service reform and vetoes are from EBSCO and Study.com. The count of artifacts and books is the museum's.

If you go

Take the home tour, walk to the graves and see the museum's exhibits on Reconstruction, and use the visit to connect with Fort Stephenson and Fremont's other sites.

Visiting

Status

Open daily except some holidays

Managed by

Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, in partnership with the Ohio History Connection

Hours

Spring hours: the home and museum are open Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday noon to 5 p.m.; home tours on the hour, the first at 10 a.m. (1 p.m. Sunday) and the last at 4 p.m. The research library is open weekdays and some Saturdays. Closed New Year's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Admission

Adults $20 (museum only $13), seniors, AAA and military $18, teens 13 to 18 $10, children 6 to 12 $5; children 5 and under and members free.

Phone

Please note

Tours are an hour long; if you buy the 4 p.m. pass you will need to arrive early to see the museum.

Address

Spiegel Grove, 1337 Hayes Ave, Fremont, OH 43420

Official information →Directions Find trails nearby on AllTrails →

Hours and prices change. Confirm with the site before you go.

Parks nearby

Catawba Island State Park

About 30 miles · A quiet state park on a Lake Erie peninsula.

Maumee Bay State Park

About 45 miles · A lodge and beach park near Toledo.

Buckeye Trail

Pemberville Section

56 miles · on or near the Buckeye Trail

Details last checked 2026-09-22. Confirm hours and prices before you go.

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