There Goes the Neighborhood

The Obama library lands on Chicago

Rick Perlstein

On January 14, I approached the field house in Washington Park, the 150-year-old jewel of Chicago’s archipelago of green spaces, for the second of two public meetings to discuss the University of Chicago’s bid to host Barack Obama’s presidential library. The university was proposing either this site, at the eastern edge of Chicago’s South Side ghetto, a half mile northwest of the Hyde Park campus, or one at Jackson Park, a mile east on the lakefront, an equally choice expanse developed for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. For months, the question of whether Columbia University—the president’s undergraduate institution—would swoop in and snatch the glittering prize from the benevolent hands of the foundation administering the Obama library had dominated the local political news; the story was second only to the surprising news that mayor Rahm Emanuel might just lose his fight for reelection. A few weeks later, in evident panic at either contingency, the mayor promised he would “move heaven and earth to ensure that the Obama Presidential Library makes its home on Chicago’s South or West Side.” The stakes were high, and the field house was packed. There was overflow from the overflow room.