The nation’s third-largest city was the front-runner from the start and, although stumbling at points, emerged from a shortlist that included New York’s Columbia University, where Mr. Obama did his undergraduate studies, and the University of Hawaii, located in the state where Mr. Obama was born.
“All the strands of my life came together and I really became a man when I moved to Chicago,” Mr. Obama said in a statement Tuesday.
ENLARGE
President Barack Obama, accompanied by first lady Michelle Obama, speaks in the East Room of the White House. President Obama will build his presidential library on Chicago’s South Side, choosing the city where his political career was born. Photo: Associated Press
The president worked as a community organizer in Chicago and later was elected to the Illinois state senate and U.S. Senate while a resident of the city’s South Side. His wife, Michelle Obama, grew up on the South Side and worked as an administrator at The University of Chicago, which spearheaded the winning bid. The children of the president and first lady also were born here.
The library spurred not only a national competition but one among Chicago neighborhoods, with bids coming from various sections of the city, including Bronzeville, the near West Side, and the far South Side. And while the winning proposal is tied to the University of Chicago, library organizers said they plan to work with the three finalists that weren’t selected, including establishing a presence at Columbia and collaborating with University of Illinois at Chicago.
The Barack Obama Foundation still has to decide on a final site, saying it will choose between land in Washington and Jackson parks in the coming months. Plans call for the library to be part of a larger facility known as the Barack Obama Presidential Center, which will include the library, a museum and offices, and activity space. The foundation will raise the money to build the center, and after its completion, the National Archives will take over operation of the library and museum like with other presidential libraries.
While Chicago was the leader from the start, the use of parkland drew criticism, raising concerns the city would lose out. But elected officials, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel who served as Mr. Obama’s first chief of staff, took steps to make the public land available, and in the end, the Obamas’ deep ties to the city won out.
“Every value, every memory, every important relationship to me exists in Chicago. I consider myself a South Sider,” Mrs. Obama said.
Tuesday’s decision is likely to renew speculation on where the Obamas will live after the White House, and whether they will return to Chicago or settle elsewhere such as New York City.
Attendance at presidential libraries vary with those of recent Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton attracting large numbers of visitors and the libraries of Presidents Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy remaining popular. The lowest attendance last year came at the Herbert Hoover presidential library, which was the nation’s first such library. In total, 2.5 million people visited the 13 presidential libraries last year, according to the National Archives.
Part of what went into Tuesday’s decision is the potential economic boost the library could provide to Chicago’s South Side. The area is rich in history and remains the heart of the city’s black community, but has neighborhoods that have long struggled with high unemployment and violence.
Mr. Emanuel described the library as a once in a lifetime opportunity “that will bring tremendous cultural, economic, and educational benefits to the South Side.”
Read the entire story: Obama to Build Presidential Library on Chicago’s South Side - WSJ
