Ronald Reagan’s Birthplace, Illinois

Ronald Reagan, the 40^th president of the USA, was born in 1911, in an apartment above a tavern in the small town of Tampico, Illinois (though only two months later, his family moved into a house down the street). Over the following years, several businesses downstairs and tenants upstairs moved in and out. In 1920, the First National Bank bought the building, closing its doors later in the Depression, but leaving its sign. The building was mostly vacant after that, as were others in this small main street. Interest in restoring and commemorating the birthplace building began when Reagan ran against Ford in the primaries in 1976. Reagan visited the building for the first time since being born there, and declared it a symbolic hometown campaign office. Efforts lost steam when Carter won the election, but redoubled in 1980, when Reagan ran against Carter, and won. In 1982, the downtown was designated a historic district, and the owners opened up the site for visitation as the Ronald Reagan Birthplace Museum, though Reagan did not return again until 1992. There is a small museum and gift shop on the block, and some commemorative markers and murals around town, but visitation remains fairly limited. The park in town is named after him, and has a cannon that he recalled playing on as a child. The park is across the street from the house he moved into with his parents after his first two months of life, above the tavern. The house is still privately owned and occupied. Reagan’s father was a salesman, and the family moved a lot around northern Illinois. When he was nine years old they settled in Dixon, Illinois, where he lived until he was 21. After that he went to college, then took jobs as a traveling radio announcer, and ended up doing a screen test at Warner Brothers in 1937, beginning his acting/political career.