In 1866, Alliance physician, amateur horticulturalist, and politician Dr. Levi Lamborn propagated the scarlet carnation from French seedlings in greenhouses at this site. Opposing William McKinley for the 18th Congressional District in 1876, Lamborn presented the future president with a carnation boutonniere before each debate. McKinley, successful in those debates, continued to use the carnation as a good-luck charm, wearing the carnation in his lapel as president. On September 14, 1901, moments after removing the flower from his lapel and giving it to a young admirer at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, President McKinley was killed by an assassin's bullet. The Ohio General Assembly passed a joint resolution naming the scarlet carnation the state flower on February 3, 1904, as it "represented a token of love and reverence for the Ohio president." On April 1, 1959, the Ohio Legislature proclaimed Alliance "The Carnation City."
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