The nation focused its attention on the casket that first lay in the East Room of the Executive Mansion and then laid in state in the Capitol before being transported to Canton by train.[217] Approximately 100,000 people passed by the open casket in the Capitol Rotunda, many having waited hours in the rain. In Canton, an equal number did the same at the Stark County Courthouse on September 18. The following day, a funeral service was held at the First Methodist Church. The casket was next sealed and taken to the McKinley house, where relatives paid their final respects.[218] It was then transported to the receiving vault at West Lawn Cemetery in Canton to await the construction of the memorial to McKinley already being planned.[219]
There was a widespread expectation that Ida McKinley would not long survive her husband; one family friend stated, as William McKinley lay dying, that they should be prepared for a double funeral.[220] However, this did not occur, and the former first lady accompanied her husband on the funeral train. 