Jackson Park Will Be ‘A Site to Inspire’ When Obama Library Opens

CHICAGO, IL - Jackson Park is the “ideal home” of the Obama Presidential Center, according to an official statement from the Obama Foundation.

The foundation confirmed President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle’s plans to open up the Obama Presidential Library on the 500-plus acre park near the city’s lakefront in Hyde Park.

In choosing the South Side and Jackson Park, the foundation called the future home of the library “a historic community with vibrant institutions, strong faith communities, successful business leaders and important community-based organizations.”

The Center will likely be built in the center of Jackson Park, which sits on the eastern edge of the city’s Hyde Park neighborhood and is often called the “gem of the South Side.”

The South Side of Chicago has experienced a recent “resurgence of creative energy,” read the statement, which also mentioned the “ribbon of world-class cultural institutions” that stretch across the region, including the South Shore Cultural Center, Museum of Science and Industry, DuSable Museum of African-American History and the University of Chicago, where Obama taught law school.

“The Obama Presidential Center will proudly join the ranks of these institutions, catalyzing investments in infrastructure that will help strengthen their ties to the greater Chicago community. Following the South Side’s tradition of creativity, innovation, and activism, the Center will bring together people from all walks of life to imagine a better future and create real progress and change.”

News of the Obamas selecting Jackson Park broke earlier this week, when it was reported the other finalist, Washington Park, was eliminated as an option.