Ronald Reagan's Boyhood Home In Hyde Park Demolished
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Demolition crews are tearing down the former boyhood home of President Reagan in Hyde Park.
The boy who would become the nation's 40th president lived in the apartment with his parents in 1914-1915 when he was about two years old.
The website DNAInfo was on the scene as wrecking crane began to tear down the vacant apartment building at 832 E. 57th Street.
The property, which is near the University of Chicago Hospital, had been purchased years ago by the university.
Preservationists had been trying to save the building for its historical significance.
The university has no immediate plans to develop the site, but reportedly plans to use it as a construction staging area for hospital expansion.
There are plans to place a historical marker at the location. Reagan was born in Tampico, Ill., and spent much of his childhood growing up in Dixon.
The apartment is a few blocks southwest of President Obama's home in Kenwood.
The Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn writes that the Reagans lived in a dozen homes before the president went to college. The fact that the family even lived in Chicago was largely unknown until the 1980s.
https://twitter.com/ReaganWorld/statuses/296714466354139136
Earlier this year, reports by conservative columnist William Kelly that the site could be turned into a parking lot for an Obama presidential library were widely dismissed, including by Reagan's son, Michael.
https://twitter.com/ReaganWorld/statuses/297115575744880642
