The Dixon, Chicago, home where President Ronald Reagan grew up is at risk of closing down as a tourist destination due to financial constraints, The Chicago Tribune reports.
The white, two-story house is running at a loss of more than $80,000 per year and only attracts between 5,000 and 6,000 visitors compared to 1994, when the home attracted about 20,000 visitors.
The nonprofit organization charged with running the home and accompanying museum, visitor center and gift shop has been running in the red since at least 2014 and does not have enough funding to complete much-needed renovations.
“We cannot keep bleeding money,” Patrick Gorman, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home nonprofit organization, told the Tribune.
Reagan, who served two terms as president in the 1980s, lived in the home for three years with his family. They moved in when he was about 10 years old.
He stayed in Dixon until he graduated from Eureka College at 22 years old.
Experts say interest in historical sites is down across the board.
“Visitation to these sites is down. People don’t go anymore,” William Furry, executive director of the Illinois State Historical Society, told the Tribune.
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