Gerald R. Ford Birthsite and Gardens

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.

The site includes a portico evoking the north side of the White House and a pagoda resembling a portion of the original home.

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.

[5] 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.