All of Ronald Reagan’s formative years, from birth until he
landed his first job across the Mississippi 21 years later, were
lived in rural northwestern Illinois except for about ten months in
Chicago.
In all but one case, his rural boyhood homes have been
preserved. His birthplace in Tampico looks as it did when he was
born and is open to the public. So is his teen years home in Dixon.
The house the Reagans lived in for two years in Galesburg has been
lovingly restored by its private owner. Their house in Monmouth is
the only home that is closed.
Reagan’s father, Jack, a shoe salesmen by trade, moved the
family from Tampico at the beginning of 1915 after his boss in
Tampico sold his dry goods store. He got a job at the big Fair
Store on Chicago’s south side, thinking his career would take off
there. They rented a cold-water flat in a four-story apartment
building at 832 East 57th Street in the Hyde Park neighborhood.
Young “Dutch” Reagan (that was his nickname from birth until he
moved to Hollywood in 1937) had his first memories in that flat. In
a letter years later, he writes about the thrill of seeing horses
pulling the fire wagon down the street at a gallop. February 6 that
year marked his fourth birthday. While living in Chicago he also
nearly died from a serious case of pneumonia.
The building the Reagans lived in is about to be demolished. The
land now belongs to the University of Chicago’s Medical Center and
the plan is to replace it with a grassy strip bordering what will
be a new parking lot.
The Commission on Chicago Landmarks turned down an appeal to
give the building landmark status on the grounds that it “does not
have sufficient architectural significance” and “is not associated
with Mr. Reagan during his active and productive years.” As to the
first reason, the building is a good example of vernacular
architecture of the era. As to the second, this site, along with
all the other places the 40th president lived in as a boy, figured
in the development of his character (his political philosophy came
later) and thus is important to understanding this very significant
president.
Redd Griffin, a Chicagoan who understood the significance of
this building in the life of Reagan and was working energetically
at saving it, died unexpectedly in late November. Now, Mary Claire
Kendall, a writer, is picking up Griffin’s cause and working to
raise enough money to propose that a non-profit group purchase the
building from the university and turn it into a Ronald Reagan Hyde
Park museum and public affairs center.
Ms. Kendall first became interested in the cause when she was
doing research on a book about Frank Lloyd Wright and met Griffin,
who was active in the movement to preserve and promote several
Wright homes in the Chicago suburbs. About her efforts to raise
money for the Reagan Hyde Park preservation project, she says,
“Time is of the essence.” The demolition is scheduled to take place
by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, while the university is more-or-less ignoring the
Reagan home preservation effort, it is actively lobbying for an
Obama Presidential Library. President Obama’s own home is in the
Hyde Park neighborhood. Chicago politics being what they are, the
betting is on that project and not saving the cold-water flat
apartment building in which the only U.S. president born and bred
in Illinois lived during his boyhood.
