Location | Simi Valley, California, United States |
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Coordinates | 34°15′34.26″N 118°49′11.08″W / 34.2595167°N 118.8197444°WCoordinates: 34°15′34.26″N 118°49′11.08″W / 34.2595167°N 118.8197444°W |
Construction start | November 21, 1988 |
Completion date | November 4, 1991 |
Named for | Ronald Reagan |
Architect | KlingStubbins |
Size | 243,000 square feet (22,600 m2) |
Management |
National Archives and Records Administration Reagan Library Foundation |
Website | reaganlibrary |
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Center for Public Affairs is the presidential library and final resting place of Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989), and his wife Nancy Reagan. Designed by Hugh Stubbins and Associates, the library is in Simi Valley, California, about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Downtown Los Angeles and 15 miles (24 km) west of Chatsworth.
The Reagan Library is the largest of the 13 federally operated presidential libraries. The street address, 40 Presidential Drive, is numbered in honor of Reagan's place as the 40th President.
It was initially planned to build the Reagan Library at Stanford University, and an agreement was reached with the university in 1984. Those plans were canceled in 1987, and the freestanding site in Simi Valley was chosen the same year. Construction of the library began in 1988, and the center was dedicated on November 4, 1991. The dedication ceremonies were the first time in United States history that five United States Presidents gathered together in the same place: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan himself, and George H. W. Bush. Six First Ladies also attended: Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, and Barbara Bush. Only Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis did not attend; but, her children Caroline Kennedy-Schlossberg and John F. Kennedy Jr. were in attendance along with Luci Johnson Turpin, younger daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as descendants of Franklin D. Roosevelt.