The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition emerged from an idea to a White City on the lake in a little more than three years. Building the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) along one edge of Jackson Park certainly will take much longer—if it materializes in that location at all.

“The Obama Foundation first announced its site in Jackson Park back in 2016 and hoped to break ground in late 2018 after gaining city approvals that spring.” reports Curbed Chicago. “Two years later, there is still no firm timeline for when the $500 million development will start construction—let alone open.”

The impact of the Center on the historical integrity of the park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition is the main subject of ongoing reviews. This, and other issues, have mobilized preservationists, Hyde Park community groups, local politicians, and federal officials into diverse alliances of support and opposition to the project.

The controversy has even spilled into the Midway, as reported by the University of Chicago’s Chicago Maroon. The University has made changes large and small to the Midway for much of the past century. One OPC supporter noted that adhering to Olmsted’s vision does not necessarily mean keeping the park identical to its original construction, stating that “there are some people who would prefer to see this park preserved as a mausoleum.”

The Obama Foundation recently released some updated plans for the OPC. The proposed campus will include a museum and plaza, public plaza, a larger playground, a Women’s Garden (on the site of the 1893 Woman’s Building), and new branch of the Chicago Public Library. Most of the campus occupies the site where the Horticultural Building stood in 1893, between the west side of the Lagoon and Stoney Island Avenue, between 59th and 62nd streets.

A north-facing view of the proposed promenade toward the Obama Presidential Center museum building. In the background is the Museum of Science and Industry and the lagoon. [Image courtesy the Obama Foundation.]