Ronald Reagan was born in an apartment over a bakery in downtown Tampico (pronounced with emphasis on the first syllable). His father, Jack, worked in a dry goods store across the street. When Ronald was born (1909), weighing 10 lbs., Jack said, He looks like a fat Dutchman. Hence the nickname, Dutch. Previously his brother Neil was dubbed Moon, because Jack said he looked like Moon Mullins. Good thing there wasn’t a girl in the family.
The apartment was spacious – three good-sized bedrooms – not what you might expect for turn of the last century small-town living quarters. (One thing we learned is that residences of the time tended not to have closets. If the tax assessor could walk into an enclosure, he counted it as a room and taxes were based on the number of rooms a home had.) The apartment is furnished with period pieces – Reagan moved his parents to California after he became successful in Hollywood and the possessions they left in storage burned. When the restoration was done many years later, Dutch and Moon went through old Montgomery Wards and Sears catalogs picking out furniture that looked familiar.
The lady who showed us through the museum and apartment set the tone for the day – a very gracious, knowledgeable person; wish I’d gotten her name. The little museum has lots of photos and memorabilia, including something like 35 original movie posters from Reagan’s 59 movies. Ronald and Nancy were in only one movie together – Hellcats of the Navy. The Tampico website has a large collection of photos.
Reagan visited the Tampico museum while president – an imprint on the carpet says “Ronald Reagan stept here.” When his body was flown from Washington to California three years ago, Air Force One flew low over Tampico. Everybody was out in main street. A great thrill for the town. Now there’s a beauty shop in town named Hair Force One.
The lady who showed us through the museum and apartment set the tone for the day – a very gracious, knowledgeable person; wish I’d gotten her name. The little museum has lots of photos and memorabilia, including something like 35 original movie posters from Reagan’s 59 movies. Ronald and Nancy were in only one movie together – Hellcats of the Navy. The Tampico website has a large collection of photos.
Reagan visited the Tampico museum while president – an imprint on the carpet says “Ronald Reagan stept here.” When his body was flown from Washington to California three years ago, Air Force One flew low over Tampico. Everybody was out in main street. A great thrill for the town. Now there’s a beauty shop in town named Hair Force One.
The museum has some playbills for a Tampico theater group, listing Mrs. Reagan, Nelle, as a performer. She gave dramatic readings and taught elocution. Also took in sewing to help support the family. Guides at both Tampico and Dixon told us that she was a strong, practicing Christian. In Dixon, she provided newly released prisoners room and board to help them back into society. It’s clear she had a strong influence on Ronald. I need to read his autobiography to get a fuller feel for this. I did read a good book recently, “The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister” by John O’Sullivan. That book emphasizes Reagan’s spirituality as a contributor to these three remarkable leaders’ efforts to free Eastern Europe from Russian control.
It’s theologically interesting: Jack and Neil were Catholics; Nelle and Ronald were members of the Church of Christ in Tampico, the Christian Church in Dixon. Must have been some sort of family deal.
The Reagan family lived in various Illinois towns after Tampico and settled in Dixon in 1920 where Jack ran a shoe store.. Their Dixon home was restored in 1984 and the Reagans were there to celebrate the restoration and his birthday. One of his comments on video: “How did they shrink it?” The house was smaller than he remembered it and indeed is more cramped than the Tampico apartment. Nelle kept one bedroom for guests and the two boys shared a small bedroom.
The Dixon museum plays a video of Reagan reminiscing (the guide, who must have heard the video hundreds of times, said hearing his voice makes it seem like he’s still alive). Did he ever get in trouble? Well, he did get caught setting off illegal fireworks and his dad had to bail him out of jail. He was band drum major and one time in a parade he noticed the sound of the band was fading, turned around and realized he was off the parade route; the band had followed the route, not him. Susie, a HS drum major, identifies with this. One time she strutted her stuff onto the football field and at about the 50 yard line realized that she had not signaled the band to follow – they were still waiting in the end zone! She recovered nicely and the show went on.
Five of us were in our tour group. After the tour a man in the group went to his car and brought back a picture of himself with the Reagans, inscribed with a note from Ronald, thanking him for keeping him supplied with beef jerky. As a teenager, this fellow had participated in the 1980 campaign – said he was with Reagan for the whole campaign, the youngest member of the staff (unpaid, but the experience of a lifetime, obviously). He lives in Colorado and I think the story was that he was moving his son’s belongings home from college, stopped here, and remembered that the picture was in his stuff.
There are also some Abraham Lincoln connections to Dixon. He served in the army there as a young man during the Black Hawk Indian War. Here is a commemorative statue – said to be the only statue of Lincoln in uniform. Later a Lincoln-Douglas debate was held in Dixon and the hotel where he slept still exists.
Five of us were in our tour group. After the tour a man in the group went to his car and brought back a picture of himself with the Reagans, inscribed with a note from Ronald, thanking him for keeping him supplied with beef jerky. As a teenager, this fellow had participated in the 1980 campaign – said he was with Reagan for the whole campaign, the youngest member of the staff (unpaid, but the experience of a lifetime, obviously). He lives in Colorado and I think the story was that he was moving his son’s belongings home from college, stopped here, and remembered that the picture was in his stuff.
There are also some Abraham Lincoln connections to Dixon. He served in the army there as a young man during the Black Hawk Indian War. Here is a commemorative statue – said to be the only statue of Lincoln in uniform. Later a Lincoln-Douglas debate was held in Dixon and the hotel where he slept still exists.
May 17 story to be continued. Next up: John Deere.
Let us hear from you.
Cheers,
Rob and Susie
Rob and Susie
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