Obama Presidential Center Opens June 19 on Chicago’s South Side After $850 Million Project

The Obama Presidential Center is preparing to open to the public on June 19 on Chicago’s South Side, with the campus set on 19.3 acres and the project described as costing $850 million.

“CHICAGO (WLS) -- With the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in just over two weeks, we are giving you a look inside, and outside the center”

ABC7 Chicago

The center’s museum is scheduled to open to the public on Juneteenth weekend, and NBC News reported that the grand opening festivities will take place from June 19-21 with a “free, open-house-style weekend commemorating this incredible milestone.”

ABC7 Chicago

NPR described the site as a campus rather than a presidential library, with basketball courts, gardens, a playground for kids, a Chicago public library branch, and an eight-story museum that towers over it all.

In a preview for the press, Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the Obama Foundation, said, “It begins with the history of our country, the Declaration of Independence, the suffrage movement, slavery, reconstruction, the civil rights movement, all of the different ways in which ordinary people brought about the change that led to his presidency.”

The museum’s design is described as a digital, interactive approach, with PBS saying it will be the first fully digital museum of its kind and that there will be no official papers on display.

PBS reported that visitors will experience high-tech and hands-on exhibits spanning the campaigns, key moments of Obama’s presidency and life at the White House, and it highlighted a life-sized replica of the Oval Office where visitors can sit behind the desk.

Associated Press

Josh Harris, the Obama Foundation’s vice president of public engagement, told the Associated Press during a tour, “This is a safe space for people to come and, yes, reflect on the historic moments of this presidency and the campaigns.”

CNN described the Sky Room as a place to pause, noting that on June 19, coinciding with Juneteenth, the center will finally open to the public after costing $850 million to build and being designed as an entire campus rather than a single building.

The center is positioned as a community destination with public access, and ABC7 Chicago quoted Valerie Jarrett saying, “So our campus is open to the public,” adding that “All but four floors of the museum are free for people to explore.”

“WOODLAWN — The Obama Presidential Center has big designs for a June 19 opening on the South Side, timed for Juneteenth weekend and arriving after more than a decade of preparations, hype and pushback”

Block Club Chicago

NPR said the museum’s exhibits include artifacts such as Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize and a replica of the Oval Office decorated as it was when Obama was there, while also noting that one item missing from the museum is Obama’s tan suit.

The project’s broader impact has drawn concerns, and CNN reported “ongoing concerns about its impact on gentrification on the South Side,” while also describing legal battles over building in historic Jackson Park that were eventually dismissed.

Even as the center is expected to draw visitors, CNBC reported that a general museum ticket will cost $30, making it the most expensive presidential museum or library to visit, and it said the center will be privately run by the Obama Foundation rather than the National Archives and Records Administration.