In 1855, while a student at Williams College, James A. Garfield preached in the Church of Christ, Disciples, which occupied the rear of this site facing the back street. He also taught penmanship to children in a room on the second floor of the union hall at the corner just west of here. Garfield was born on November 19, 1831 in Mentor, Ohio. He became the 20th President of the United States in 1881 but died of a gunshot wound on September 19, 1881 after only 6 months in office.