Our 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, was born in this quaint upstairs apartment that was home to the Reagan family from 1906-1911. Ronald Reagan lived in Tampico until he was 4 years old.
Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico on Feb. 6, 1911 in an apartment above a bakery. The bakery was purchased by the First National Bank in 1919 and continued as a Bank until the 1930’s. The apartment where he was born has been refinished to look as it did when he was born there. The bank has been restored to again look like a working bank of the early 1900’s. The store located to the South of the Bank originally was a grocery store and now houses the gift shop for the Reagan Museum.
When Ronald was 4 months old, the family moved from the apartment to a house on Glassburn Street. The house is located across the street from Reagan Park (originally known as Railroad or Depot Park). Ronald and Neil played on a cannon in the park as young children. He referred to the park and the cannon in several of his stories. When he was 4 years old, the Pitney Store, where his father, Jack Reagan worked, was sold and the Reagans moved to Chicago where Mr. Reagan worked for a short time at the Fair Department Store. The family then moved to Galesburg, where Mr. Reagan was employed as a store clerk. While there, Ronald learned to read at the age of 5, before starting to school. He attended Silas Willard School in Galesburg and skipped grade 2. The family then moved to Monmouth for a short time. They were called back to Tampico for Mr. Reagan to again work for Mr. Pitney, who had acquired his old store back. The family lived above the Pitney Store until moving to Dixon in December of 1920.