Since then, establishing the non-profit Foundation for U.S. Grant’s Legacy has been a “long, uphill process,” he says, with each step bringing unanticipated challenges. The Internal Revenue Service, for example, balked at providing a Federal Tax ID number, one of the requirements to establish 501(c)(3) status.
“Ultimately there was a whole series of questions from the IRS — it seemed to them (that) what was here couldn’t be the reality,” Wirth says, naming other people who have had trouble believing that the home wasn’t made a National Landmark long ago. “Some have said to me that it would not only qualify as a National Landmark, but if the Park Service had resources, they thought it would be made one of America’s National Park (sites). No place seems to have any means to assist that.
“It is rather strange. This is the counterpart to Robert E. Lee’s Arlington, Va., home. Each made a monumental decision (in their respective homes) – (Lee) to leave the U.S. Army and (Grant) to join it … It would seem there would be at least a similar designation” for Grant’s home.
“The IRS finally gave approval on Sept. 15, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows,” Wirth, a lifelong Catholic, says. “I’ve put this in her hands.”
He credits the Blessed Mother with inspiring other assistance that has come, including a new roof and other funds and volunteers along the way.
“(It is) out of the generosity of their hearts that I’ve been able to maintain things as long as I have,” he says, admitting he is now at a crisis point, having exhausted his personal funds and working without an income for the six years he has owned the home.
He still faces fees for required professional services from architects and engineers, as well as numerous other expenses — for things such as a special use permit and a traffic study — necessary to get the home ready and open for tourists. Other expenses can’t be avoided, he says regretfully. “I have to keep the heat on or the plaster would crack.”
“I don’t think anybody will be disappointed with Grant’s home,” Wirth says.
First Lady Julia Grant’s memoirs “are a detailed account of the family life when they were here. When you are here, you get an intimate, personal look into the life of Grant … these are the very same rooms, same floors … you are beholding the same settings. People have a chance to get to know a person of national significance in ways (they’ve) never seen him before.”
“The kids applauded and applauded,” Wirth says of one tour that he provided to Boy Scouts and their leaders. “I have prayed that if God wills it, that I can help bring this reality (of the personal side of President Grant) to people. All of us have some opportunity to be of service, sometimes in humble ways, but always important in God’s sight.
“I hope (this house) will not only be an opportunity (for visitors) to learn about history, but also how much good that they themselves can bring about with that attitude of service."
Posted with permission from The Observer, official newspaper for the Diocese of Rockford, Ill.
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