Obama Presidential Center to Open on June 19 in Chicago’s South Side

The Obama Presidential Center will open to the public on June 19 in Chicago’s South Side. The campus and its museum will operate seven days a week following the grand opening on Juneteenth. org, @NBCNews reported.

A water terrace named in honor of Barack Obama’s late mother, Ann Dunham, will feature a fountain designed so kids can run in and out of it, play in it and splash in it. “It’s a fountain that’s designed where kids can run in and out of the fountain, and play in it and splash in it,” Obama said. Dunham worked for decades to complete a doctorate and championed education and community service.

She died at age 52 in 1995. Obama was inaugurated as president in 2008, more than a decade after her death. “My mom didn’t live to see me as president, but she was reflected in everything I did as president because she was a kind person, somebody who believed in doing things for other folks and not just thinking for yourself,” Obama said.

“A lot of those values of respecting people, regardless of their backgrounds, and listening to them, and learning from them. The Obama Presidential Center campus covers 19 acres. It includes a museum that records the presidency and will display some of Michelle Obama’s dresses.

Obama was deeply involved in the design process and ensured the inclusion of works by dozens of artists. “The goal for me has been to create something that’s a living monument not to me, but to this idea of American citizenship,” Obama said. The presidential library broke ground in 2021.

The campus is designed to model a space where communities come together to meet, to learn, to work with each other around projects that they care about. Barack Obama and Michelle Obama first met while working at a law firm in Chicago and worked as community organizers in the South Side. A Chicago public library sits on site that functions as an actual library, not just some academic library.

Community spaces allow people to meet. Recording studios are available for young people to talk about their lives and create art and music that can be inspiring. The center also includes a playground, a basketball court and a community garden.

An auditorium will host public speakers, with young people who are bringing about change in their communities able to convene, learn and practice civic leadership. “The campus is going to be 19 acres, and there’ll be a museum there that records the presidency and has some of Michelle’s dresses, which will be, no doubt, the most popular exhibit there,” Obama said while laughing.

Obama described the water terrace as one of the top attractions.

He imagined slipping in unnoticed years from now to sit and watch children playing in the water on a nice summer day. “I know that would make her happy,” he said. The interview with Barack Obama was conducted on April 18 in Philadelphia.

It appeared on TODAY on May 6, 2026, @NBCNews reported.