Shortly after Harding died in office, the Harding Memorial Association formed to raise money for a memorial site in honor of the late president. The association ultimately received $978,000 in donations from more than one million people across the country, as well as contributions from several European nations. Among the list of contributors from the United States were an estimated 200,000 school children, who donated pennies towards the memorial. The tomb is located in Marion, Ohio, at the southeast corner of Vernon Heights Boulevard and Delaware Avenue, just south of Marion Cemetery.
Architecture
Construction began in 1926 and finished in the early winter of 1927. It is designed in the style of a circular Greek temple with Doric order marble columns. The columns are built of Georgia white marble and are high and in diameter at the base. Designed by Henry Hornbostel, Eric Fisher Wood and Edward Mellon, the winners of a 1925 national design competition, the structure is in diameter and in height. The structure is unroofed, in the style of some Greek temples in which the center was open to the sky and without a roof. The open design honors the Hardings' wishes that they be buried outside, and is covered in ivy and other plantings.
Burials
At their deaths, the bodies of the Hardings were entombed in the Marion Cemetery Receiving Vault. Once the Harding Memorial was completed in 1927, the bodies were reinterred in the Memorial's sarcophagus and it was sealed. Because Harding's reputation was damaged by personal controversies and presidential scandals, the Harding Memorial was not officially dedicated until 1931 when President Herbert Hoover presided.
Dedication
On June 16, 1931, President Herbert Hoover gave a speech at the dedication ceremony of the Warren G. Harding memorial. The following are excerpts from Hoover's eulogy:
Oversight
The Harding Memorial Association transferred ownership of the Harding Memorial to the Ohio Historical Society in the 1980s. OHS undertook a restoration in the mid-1980s and began to refer to the site as the Harding Tomb, a better description of its function. Following a reorganization, the Ohio Historical Society transferred day-to-day management of the memorial, and the Harding Home, to Marion Technical College in 2011. This arrangement reduced OHS's administrative burden, while allowing MTC to attend to the site. OHS retains ownership, and co-ordinates with MTC on major site issues. The memorial is the last of the elaborate presidential tombs, a trend that began with the burial of President Abraham Lincoln in his tomb in Springfield, Illinois. Since President Calvin Coolidge, Harding's successor, presidents have chosen burial plot designs that are simpler, or combined those with their library sites.
