NATION : No Takers for Ford’s Old Home
Former President Gerald R. Ford’s boyhood home, which has stood empty for nearly 20 years, will be sold because efforts to turn it into a museum have failed.
“It’s almost a lost cause,” said Steele Taylor, chairman of the Grand Rapids Arts and Museum Commission. “We can’t get anybody interested in fixing it up.”
The Veterans Administration acquired the four-bedroom house in 1972 when the owner defaulted. Three years later, after Ford had become President, the VA gave it to the city.
The commission had trouble raising the estimated $51,000 to renovate the home into a museum because Ford lived in at least eight homes in Grand Rapids, said Jim Kratsas, curator of the Gerald R. Ford Museum.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
