Historic White House Gates (Historical Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on this trailside historical marker:

Historic White House Gates
circa 1819

The gates, which were installed in 1819, were one of the finishing touches to the reconstruction of the White House after it was burned during the War of 1812. The gates were commissioned by President James Monroe and were fabricated at the New York forge of Paulus Hedl, an Austrian smith and foundryman. James Hoban, the original architect of the White House, and builder in charge if the reconstruction, oversaw the installation.

Mounted on grand neo-classical stone piers, the gates stood at the northeast entrance to the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue for nearly 120 years. Twenty-eight presidents, from James Monroe to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, used these gates for ceremonial entry to and exit from the White House.

Removed around 1937 during a renovation project, the gates found a second home at a private estate on the Potomac River ten miles south of Washington, D.C., where they remained in relative obscurity for more than 50 years. During this time, the estate was acquired by the American Horticultural Society and became the Society's national headquarters.

In 2002, the distinctive pattern of the gates' ironwork attracted the attention of White House historian William Seale. After hours of painstaking research and measurements, Seale confirmed his hunch — the gates were indeed those that had been ordered by James Monroe for the White House. A historical treasure had been found.