Artist: Robert Wadsworth Grafton (1876–1936)
William Insco Buchanan
BUCHANAN, WILLIAM INSCO (1852–1909), inducted by 1920
“Diplomat of the Americas,” William I. Buchanan was born in Covington, Ohio, and moved to Sioux City, Iowa, in 1882. He was not formally educated. In 1887, he organized a series of Corn Palace Expositions in Sioux City, which featured elaborate buildings created from crop grains. This work attracted the attention of President Grover Cleveland, and Buchanan was appointed to the World’s Columbian Exposition, representing Iowa. In 1890, he was named head of the Department of Agriculture for this 1893 world’s fair in Chicago. Under Presidents William McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt, Buchanan served as envoy to the Argentine Republic, and in 1903, was appointed the first foreign minister to Panama. Buchanan returned to the US as director-general of the Pan-American Exposition, the 1901 world’s fair in Buffalo, New York. William Insco Buchanan led many international conferences and treaty negotiations before his sudden death in London in 1909.
Source: Saddle & Sirloin Guidebook 2026, p. 56