By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
The West Wing coming to Monroe
5170a.jpg
Photo supplied A miniature White House will be on display in Monroe during Cheese Days Sept. 18-21 at SLICE. The model features White House rooms as well as the East and West wings.

If You Go

The miniature White House will be on display from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 18-21 at the StateLine Ice and Community Expo.

MONROE - Visitors to Cheese Days will be able to tour the White House.

Not the actual building, but a replica that gives people a chance to see more of the White House than if they took a trip to Washington D.C.

The miniature White House was built by one-time Monroe resident John Zweifel and his wife. They first began construction of the building in 1962. Although they first received permission to build the model during the John F. Kennedy administration, it wasn't until the Gerald R. Ford administration that they were allowed inside the White House.

The model is built on a scale of one inch to one foot of the actual White House.

All of the rooms in the historic mansion are available for the public to see including the East Room, where presidential children were married and where presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy laid in state; the Diplomatic Reception Room, used by Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt for his radio broadcasts to the nation during the Great Depression; the Blue Room, first used by Pres. Martin Van Buren in 1837, the Lincoln Bedroom, which was actually Lincoln's office during the Civil War and includes a replica of the Rosewood bed and table purchased by Mary Todd Lincoln, and the State Dining Room.

More than 40 million people in all 50 states and in countries around the world have seen the model White House. The model will be at the Republican National Convention before it comes to Cheese Days in Monroe.

The model shows three floors of the White House and also includes the East and West wings. The model also includes tiny lights and television sets that work as well as replicas of the furniture, carpet and paintings. The State Dining Room includes 120 place settings.

The furniture in the model White House is made from the same wood as the original.

Jack Kundert, Monroe, who is helping to bring the replica to Monroe, said the Zweifels have been given opportunities to visit the white House often to make sure the model stays current.

With each new administration, changes are made to paintings and furniture in the White House. The Zweifels make the same changes to their model.

The Zweifels spent more than 600,000 hours to recreate the White House model, which weighs about 10 tons.

"It will be a nice addition to Cheese Days," Kundert said.