Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site
Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858, in a brownstone home on East 20th Street in Manhattan. Though the original house was demolished in 1916, it was reconstructed in the 1920s on the original site, using photographs, family memories and original furnishings to recreate the homes it would have appeared during his childhood.
The house reflects the environment that shaped young Roosevelt, a frail child with severe asthma who would later transform himself into an advocate of the “strenuous life. His father, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr, was engaged in philanthropy and civic reform, and that example of moral responsibility and public service influenced him. Within these rooms were planted the early seeds of discipline, education and duty that would later define his presidency.
The site was designated a unit of the National Park System in 1962 and signed into law by John F. Kennedy. Its recognition as a National Historic Site honors not only Roosevelt’s birthplace but his legacy of conserving over 230 million acres of public land and establishing national parks, forest and monuments. The birthplace connects the intimate world of a 19th century New York Family to the expansive conservation vision that reshaped America.
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