While it has been generally known for the past two weeks, two sites near the University of Chicago will be considered for the Barack Obama Presidential Library. One of the sites identified was also part of the 1893 Columbian Exposition. If the siting photo is correct, the Jackson Park site once featured the
Woman's Building at that World's Fair
President Obama has decided to build his presidential library on the South Side of Chicago, where his political career began.
In a news release, the Barack Obama Foundation announced early Tuesday that the library would be erected on park land that was proposed for the site by the University of Chicago. The site was selected over bids made by Columbia University in New York, the University of Hawaii and the University of Illinois at Chicago.
"With a library and a foundation on the South Side of Chicago, not only will we be able to encourage and affect change locally, but what we can also do is to attract the world to Chicago." Obama said in a video accompanying the release. "All the strands of my life came together and I really became a man when I moved to Chicago. That's where I was able to apply that early idealism to try to work in communities in public service. That's where I met my wife. That's where my children were born."