Philip McKim

Philip McKim was born in Ireland in 1836.¹ He immigrated to the United States in the 1850s and moved to New York. During the Civil War, he served in a New York regiment for the Union Army.² Prior to joining the White House staff, McKim relocated to Washington, D.C. and worked as a steward at the Metropolitan Club and as a cook for diplomat John Jay.³ 

In the fall of 1889, he replaced Hugo Ziemann as President Benjamin Harrison’s White House steward.⁴ McKim presided over the household during much needed renovations to the building; in fact, one newspaper noted that McKim lived on the Ground Floor in a room where “the ceiling sagged a little and the presence of a few people in this historic apartment would cause the floor to bend in toward the center.”⁵ McKim served as steward for the rest of Harrison’s presidency, departing with the family in 1893.⁶ He continued to live in the District and was an active Mason and member of fraternal organizations for Civil War veterans. Philip McKim died on on March 7, 1915, was buried at Glenwood Cemetery in Washington, D.C.⁷