And for a 'grassy strip' adjacent to 'new parking lot'
Latest news out of the communist stronghold known as the University of Chicago -you know, same U of C that made Bill Ayers a professor and found Obama a faux teaching gig to pad his micron-thin resume- is that a childhood home to young Ronald Reagan is about to be leveled so the University can build -get ready for it- 'a grassy strip' next to a new parking lot...
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...
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."
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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...
Reagan childhood home
