Which U.S. President created the annual White House "egg roll"?

President Rutherford B. Hayes created the annual White House Easter Egg Roll in 1878.

Egg rolling was already a popular Easter Monday activity in Washington, D.C., especially on the U.S. Capitol grounds. After children’s celebrations damaged the Capitol lawn, Congress prohibited using the grounds as a children’s playground in 1876. Rain prevented the ban from being seriously tested in 1877, but the following year children needed a new place to roll their eggs.

Hayes and First Lady Lucy Hayes opened the White House grounds to them, and the first official White House Easter Egg Roll took place on April 22, 1878. The event was held on the South Lawn and became an annual presidential tradition. The president is therefore credited with establishing the White House version, even though informal egg-rolling events had occurred in Washington before his administration.

A common mix-up is attributing the tradition to Dolley Madison or Abraham Lincoln. Both are associated with earlier Easter customs and informal festivities, but Hayes is the canonical answer for the official annual White House Egg Roll. The event has occasionally been moved, canceled, or paused because of war, White House renovations, food conservation, weather, or public-health restrictions.