HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – When Hawaii-born President Barack Obama left office eight years ago, there was high hope that he would choose to locate his presidential library in his home state.
But he chose Chicago – and the Obama Presidential Center is already under construction in a park on the South Side.
The dominant feature of the project is a 68-meter-high tower that rises above the open space, representing a president known for his high-sounding rhetoric.
The unusual shape of the eight-story museum tower represents the upward-reaching hands of four people, said Josh Harris, vice president for community engagement at the Obama Foundation.
“Four hands coming together. It’s about us coming together despite all our differences to make change in our communities,” he said.
The tower is just the most impressive element of the 76-acre campus near Lake Michigan on Chicago’s south side, not far from where Michelle Obama grew up and where the former president worked as a community organizer – a mission that the Presidential Center aims to continue.
“We are actively trying to put more power back in the hands of the people. That was the core of what President Obama did and the reason he went into public service in the first place,” Harris said.
The $800 million campus also includes conference rooms, an auditorium, restaurants, community gardens and teaching kitchens, a sports facility and a branch of the Chicago Public Library.
After surviving a legal battle to preserve the park and the pandemic, the opening is now planned for spring 2026 – ten years after Obama left office.
“I would say this has been a journey of learning a lot, but hopefully it will help us create a pretty good presidential center,” Harris said.
At the topping-out ceremony in June, Obama signed a giant beam along with workers from surrounding neighborhoods. Harris said the workforce was deliberately diverse to highlight the economic value of the often-neglected South Side.
“This is going to be big!” Obama shouted to the workers.
The tower’s facade will also feature large words from the president’s 2015 speech marking the 50th anniversary of the March on Selma on Bloody Sunday in 1965.
“You are America, free from habits and conventions, unencumbered by what is, because you are ready to seize what should be,” Obama said. “Because the most powerful word in our democracy is the word ‘we.’ We the people. We will do it. Yes, we can. That word belongs to no one. It belongs to everyone.”
The words of this speech will rise up in front of open observation decks, allowing visitors to literally see the world through Obama’s words.
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