The Gerald R. Ford Birthsite and Gardens in Omaha, Nebraska marks the location of the house at 3202 Woolworth Avenue where U.S. President Gerald R. Ford lived for a couple of weeks after his birth in July 1913. It was the home of his paternal grandparents, Charles Henry and Martha King.
The King house at 3202 Woolworth Avenue was located on the border of the Hanscom Park and Field Club neighborhoods of Midtown Omaha. A three-story, fourteen-room Victorian mansion, it was razed after a 1971 fire caused substantial damage.
Omaha businessman James M. Paxson, who lived in the neighborhood, purchased the vacant lot for $17,250 after Ford became president in 1974, and planned for it to be used as a memorial. Although Paxson donated the site to the city, officials said they couldn't afford to build a memorial. Paxson then set up the Paxson Foundation to fund the memorial and associated gardens. The site includes a portico evoking the north side of the White House and a pagoda resembling a portion of the original home. [1]
The memorial was dedicated in 1977. Ford partnered with Paxson on some fundraising. The former president returned in 1980 for the dedication of a rose garden in honor of Betty Ford. [2] An exhibit kiosk contains information about Ford.
Adjoining the site is the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center, a regional center of the Nebraska State Historical Society founded in 1995. It provides conservation services for historic and artistic works. The Center also contains a small exhibit of Ford memorabilia. Both conservation and exhibit are available by appointment only. [3]
The two sites are just to the northwest of Hanscom Park, one of Omaha's oldest public parks. The house site is four blocks west of the Gerald R. Ford Expressway.
The house was owned by the future president's paternal grandparents, Charles Henry King, a prominent banker, and his wife, the former Martha Alicia Porter. After their son Leslie Lynch King married Dorothy Ayer Gardner on September 7, 1912, the young couple moved into the house with his parents, as was typical of the times. Their son, named Leslie Lynch King, Jr. was born July 14, 1913.
Due to domestic abuse, Dorothy Gardner separated from Leslie King when Leslie, Jr. was only 16 days old. [4] After staying briefly with a sister in Illinois, Dorothy took her son with her to her parents and moved in with them in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the future president grew up. [5] By the end of 1913 Dorothy's divorce from Leslie King was final. In 1916, Dorothy married Gerald Rudolff Ford. They renamed Leslie, Jr. after him, as Gerald Rudolff Ford, Jr. [4] The future president was never formally adopted, however, and he did not legally change his name until 1935; he also used a more conventional spelling of his middle name (Rudolph). [6]
Perry Township is a township in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,339 at the 2020 census, a decline from the figure of 2,552 tabulated in 2010. The Frazier School District serves the township.
Interstate 480 (I-480) is a 4.9-mile-long (7.9 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway that connects I-80 in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska, with I-29 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The portion of I-480 in Nebraska has been named the Gerald R. Ford Expressway, named in honor of the former president, who was a native of Omaha. For most of its length, I-480 is overlapped by a US Highway; for two miles (3.2 km) with US Highway 75 (US 75) and for one mile (1.6 km) with US 6. I-480 includes the Grenville Dodge Memorial Bridge over the Missouri River.
The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park covers about 35 acres (0.14 km2) and includes several sites in Atlanta, Georgia related to the life and work of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Within the park is his boyhood home, and Ebenezer Baptist Church — the church where King was baptized and both he and his father, Martin Luther King Sr., were pastors — as well as, the grave site of King, Jr., and his wife, civil rights activist Coretta Scott King.
Gerald Rudolff Ford Jr. was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He previously served as the leader of the Republican Party in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1965 to 1973, and as the 40th vice president under President Richard Nixon from 1973 to 1974. Ford succeeded to the presidency when Nixon resigned in 1974, but was defeated for election to a full term in 1976. Ford is the only person to become U.S. president without winning an election for president or vice president.
The President Gerald R. Ford Jr. Boyhood Home is a house located at 649 Union Avenue SE in Grand Rapids, Michigan that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Future President Gerald R. Ford lived in the house from 1921 through 1930, when he was between the age of 8 and 17. Of all his boyhood homes, Ford remembered this one most vividly in his autobiography.
Dorothy Ayer Gardner King Ford was the mother of U.S. President Gerald Ford.
Leslie Lynch King Sr. was the biological father of U.S. President Gerald Ford. Because of his alcoholism and abusive behavior, his wife, Dorothy Gardner, left him sixteen days after Ford's birth.
Gerald Rudolff Ford was an American businessman and Republican politician who was the stepfather of U.S. President Gerald Ford and for whom Ford legally changed his name.
Charles Henry King was an American businessman and banker who was instrumental in founding several cities in the states of Nebraska and Wyoming. He saw opportunity with the expansion of the railroad west and built up related retail businesses, banks and freight operations. His fortune was estimated at $20 million. He was also the paternal grandfather of U.S. President Gerald Ford, who was born in his home in Omaha.
James M. Paxson was an Omaha, Nebraska businessman who donated the land and raised funds to create the Gerald R. Ford Birthsite and Gardens at the 1913 birth site of President Gerald Ford.
Gerald Ford (1913–2006) was the president of the United States from 1974 to 1977.
History Nebraska, formerly the Nebraska State Historical Society is a Nebraska state agency, founded in 1878 to "encourage historical research and inquiry, spread historical information ... and to embrace alike aboriginal and modern history." It was designated a state institution in 1883, and upgraded to a state agency in 1994. The agency rebranded and announced their name change to History Nebraska on April 30, 2018.
Significant events in the history of North Omaha, Nebraska include the Pawnee, Otoe and Sioux nations; the African American community; Irish, Czech, and other European immigrants, and; several other populations. Several important settlements and towns were built in the area, as well as important social events that shaped the future of Omaha and the history of the nation. The timeline of North Omaha history extends to present, including recent controversy over schools.
The history of Omaha, Nebraska, began before the settlement of the city, with speculators from neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa staking land across the Missouri River illegally as early as the 1840s. When it was legal to claim land in Indian Country, William D. Brown was operating the Lone Tree Ferry to bring settlers from Council Bluffs to Omaha. A treaty with the Omaha Tribe allowed the creation of the Nebraska Territory, and Omaha City was founded on July 4, 1854. With early settlement came claim jumpers and squatters, and the formation of a vigilante law group called the Omaha Claim Club, which was one of many claim clubs across the Midwest. During this period many of the city's founding fathers received lots in Scriptown, which was made possible by the actions of the Omaha Claim Club. The club's violent actions were challenged successfully in a case ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, Baker v. Morton, which led to the end of the organization.
Field Club is a neighborhood located in the Midtown region of Omaha, Nebraska. Roughly bounded by Pacific Street, 32nd Avenue, Center St., and 36th Street, the neighborhood was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district on November 15, 2000. Field Club is the location of dozens of historically significant homes in the Omaha area, including the Gerald R. Ford Birthsite and Gardens.
Hanscom Park is a historic neighborhood in Midtown Omaha, Nebraska. Its namesake public park is one of the oldest parks in Omaha, donated to the City in 1872. U.S. President Gerald R. Ford was born in a house in the Hanscom Park neighborhood. Its boundaries are Woolworth Street on the north, South 32nd on the west, Interstate 480 on the east and I-80 on the south.
The Bradford–Pettis House is a historic house located at 400 South 39th Street in Midtown Omaha, Nebraska. It was designated an Omaha Landmark on February 26, 1980, and added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 21, 1983.
The Omaha Horse Railway was a private transportation company in early Omaha, Nebraska. The company was founded in 1867 by Omaha pioneers Ezra Millard, Andrew J. Hanscom and Augustus Kountze to provide horsecar service in the city. On February 19 of that year the Nebraska Territory Legislature awarded the company a 50-year franchise and exclusive rights to run tracks on Omaha's streets in its closing session. The company was noted for an 1888 United States District Court trial in which they sued another company for infringing on the exclusive rights to Omaha's streets granted to them by the Nebraska Territory Legislature.
The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum is the presidential museum and burial place of Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States (1974–1977), and his wife Betty Ford. It is located near the Pew Campus of Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ford's presidential museum is the only such facility under the auspices of the National Archives and Records Administration to be separate from the presidential library, which is located approximately 130 miles (210 km) to the east in Ann Arbor. Despite the separation, the library and museum are a single institution with one director.
