World's First Memorial to Slain McKinley
Tower, Minnesota
This monument shows that being first does not necessarily mean being best. Dedicated on November 15, 1901, only two months after the assassination of President McKinley, it's a bare-bones 18-foot-tall concrete obelisk atop a pile of rocks, engraved "Our Martyred President." An attached iron plaque prominently displays the date. It supposedly cost $12,000, which for the time seems like a lot of money for what it produced.
The governor of Minnesota spoke at the monument's dedication in front of a crowd of several thousand people. It was the idea of the owner of the Minnesota Iron Company, who was a pal of McKinley.