Reagan Birthplace Officials Boast Big Tourism Gains
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WBBM/CBS) -- Officials at the Ronald Reagan birthplace are boasting of big tourism gains, following 100th birthday anniversary of the president who defined the 1980s.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Dave Dahl reports, this past Feb. 6 was the 100th anniversary of the birth of the man who would become America's only Illinois-born president so far.
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Joan Johnson, curator of the Reagan Birthplace in Tampico, Ill., described a very busy 2011.
"In March we opened for weekends, and then in April, we're open every day," she said. "However, we have phone numbers posted, and people can go into our Dutch diner or wherever, and ask if they could possibly see the birthplace," Johnson said. "Since the first of the year, we've had over 500 visitors, representing 23 states, Austria, Israel, Norway, Zimbabwe, South Africa."
President Reagan's son, Michael Reagan, came through to kick things off on his father's 99th birthday. It was the first time he had seen the place the future president lived as a boy.
Reagan was born Feb. 6, 1911, in tiny Tampico, Ill., and attended Eureka College roughly 100 miles away. He worked in Iowa as a radio broadcaster before relocating to Los Angeles, where he began a career in acting. A one-time Democrat, he changed his registration in 1962.
Reagan also lived briefly in Chicago. As a 4-year-old boy, he resided with his family in a three-flat at 832 E. 57th St. on the western edge of the Hyde Park neighborhood. He also announced his engagement to first wife Jane Wyman at the Chicago Theatre before their wedding in 1940.
Reagan died in 2004.
