William Henry Harrison / Benjamin Harrison

William Henry Harrison (1773-1841), ninth president of the United States, left his home state of Virginia in 1791 and was commissioned in the 1st Regiment of Infantry. After his resignation from the army, he became Secretary of the Northwest Territory. In 1801, Harrison became governor of the recently created Indiana Territory. During the War of 1812, he was given command of the Army of the Northwest, defeating combined British and Native American forces at the Battle of the Thames. Harrison lived here following the War of 1812. He turned to politics while living in North Bend and represented Ohio in the United States Congress for two terms. In the presidential election of 1840, the Whigs capitalized on Harrison’s fame as a military hero and nominated him to run against incumbent Democrat Martin Van Buren. Shortly after his lengthy inaugural address, Harrison developed pneumonia. He died on April 4, 1841, and his body was returned to North Bend for burial.

[Side B]: Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901) was born here on a farm established by his grandfather, William Henry Harrison. A graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Harrison read law in Cincinnati and then moved to Indianapolis to practice. He became active in Republican politics before he served in the Civil War as a colonel of the 70th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers. In the 1880s, subsequent to his defeat for governor of Indiana, he served in the United States Senate, where he championed pensions for Civil War veterans, high protective tariffs, homesteading, and civil service reform. Harrison ran against incumbent Grover Cleveland in the presidential election of 1888, and received fewer popular votes, but carried the Electoral College. During his term as president, he convened the first Pan-American Conference, modernized the navy, and negotiated reciprocal foreign trade agreements. Harrison was re-nominated in 1892, but was defeated by Cleveland.