National Gallery of Art two months after excavation had begun. At the time of its inception it was the largest marble structure in the world. The museum stands on the former site of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station, where in 1881 a disgruntled office seeker, Charles Guiteau, shot President James Garfield (see James A. Garfield assassination). As anticipated by Mellon, the creation of the National Gallery encouraged the donation of other substantial art collections by a number of private donors. Founding benefactors included such individuals as Paul Mellon, Samuel H. Kress, Rush H. Kress, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, Chester Dale, Joseph Widener, Lessing J.
Charles J. Hendley North Carolina; they had two sons. In 1952, Bella Dodd characterized Hendley as "a person with very definite views on the whole question of schools and socialists." In 1962, Henley died. Tamiment Library has archived the Charles J. Hendley Papers. Charles J. Hendley Charles J. Hendley (1881-1962) was a teacher, education reformer, union activist, and president of the New York City Teachers Union (TU) from 1935 to 1945 (just after a minority split off to form the New York City Teachers Guild). Charles James Hendley was born on June 4, 1881, in North Carolina. His father was Alvis Francis Hendley,