On the northern edge of Buffalo, New York there's an imposing marble building perched atop a grassy hill; a hill that slopes down gently to a small man-made lake ringed with trees. It's a beautiful spot, quiet and drenched in history, and I often find myself there on that specific sort of sunny day that was made for thinking.
The building houses our local historical society, but it was built as a pavilion for the Pan American Exposition of 1901 by an architect who clearly looked to the Parthenon for inspiration. The gardens and lake are part of an extensive city-wide park system designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, and President McKinley was assassinated while attending the exposition only a few yards and a hundred years or so from where I stand.
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