William R. Eckloff

William Rudolf Eckloff was born on February 11, 1854, in Washington, D.C.¹ Around 1877, during the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes, Eckloff joined the White House staff as a carpenter. He remained in this role through four presidencies, leaving around early 1889 at the end of Grover Cleveland’s first term. As the resident White House carpenter, Eckloff contributed to several significant projects, including an expansion of the White House Conservatory requested by First Lady Lucy Hayes and the construction of a “refrigerating plant” that brought cooled air into James A. Garfield’s recovery room after he was shot by Charles Guiteau in 1881. 

After leaving the White House, Eckloff worked as a carpenter at the U.S. Capitol Building, commuting from his farm in Maryland to the Beltsville train station near D.C. At the Capitol, he continued his connection to presidential history; notably, he constructed the catafalque (funerary platform) used for President William McKinley’s funeral service in the Capitol Rotunda.² Eckloff retired sometime between 1930 and 1940.³ He died on July 22, 1942, and was buried at Glenwood Cemetery in Washington, D.C.⁴