I made the occasion to travel to Tampico, IL just to visit the site of Reagan's birth, one year after his death and after visiting the Ronald Reagan Library two months after his death.
What a contrast in those two places.
For those fortunate to visit the Reagan Library, it is beautiful and tastefully done.
Tampico, IL is one of many such tiny towns in middle America, maybe three blocks long, you're out of it before you think you've begun. I drove back and forth three times before realizing that the tiny little store front with a couple of little American flags in the window, was the first floor of the spot where Ronald Wilson Reagan began his life on earth!
I was shocked that so little money had been spent on the site. I thought how much had gone into the Library and how forgotten his actual home seemed but that's what is so wonderful, looking back now.
The insignificant spot, like so many others around America, are not what make people who they are or who they become. That never during President Reagan's life, did he feel the need to be other than who he was, a poor boy from a small town, living in rented, dusty rooms over a storefront, is a testament to who he was.
Happy Birthday Ronnie!
Thanks very much!
I too have seen the house in Tampico... You’re right, there’s not much to it... though they do have some events there...
About an hour or so north though, there’s the town of Dixon, where Reagan spent a number of years growing up. That house is more fully available as an opportunity to tour, so I would recommend it if you can ever get to Dixon!