Fulton added to Ronald Reagan Trail: Board agrees city has historically significant tie to former president

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Ronald Reagan’s great-grandmother and paternal grandparents are buried in the Reagan family plot, in the former Fulton Catholic cemetery. (Submitted photo)

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FULTON – After sufficiently demonstrating its longtime ties to the nation’s 40th president, Fulton was officially added to The Ronald Reagan Trail.

The designation brings with it the opportunity to better draw tourists who are interested in following the life of the Sauk Valley’s most famous son.

Heather Bennett, executive director of the Fulton Chamber of Commerce and the city’s tourism director, announced the designation in a news release.

In 2005, local historian Nancy Kolk began researching Reagan family history and its connection to Fulton.

The president’s parents were born and married in Fulton, at the church rectory of Immaculate Conception. Reagan’s great-grandmother and paternal grandparents are buried in the Reagan family plot, in the former Fulton Catholic cemetery, the release said.

From Kolk’s research, Bennett created a brochure titled “Fulton’s Ronald Reagan Connection.”

After several years of Fulton promoting its Reagan connection, the Ronald Reagan Trail board took notice, and agreed the city’s tie to the Gipper was historically significant, the release said. 

The trail, officially designated by the Illinois Legislature in May 1999, consists of Reagan’s  birthplace, Tampico; Dixon, his boyhood home; and Ohio, Walnut, Princeton, Henry, Chillicothe, Peoria Heights, Washington, Eureka, Galesburg, Monmouth and Fulton.

Each community pays an annual fee of 10 cents per person, based on the community’s population, to be part of the trail. Fulton’s commitment will be $388.

In turn, Fulton will be included in all promotions, including tourism brochures, and information and links will be added to The Ronald Reagan Trail Web site.

The trail board meets monthly in Princeton. Fulton resident Bill Blecha will be Fulton’s representative, the release said.

The Fulton Historical Society also has a Ronald Reagan History Room inside its Martin House Museum.

Historical marker coming in 2011

The Fulton Chamber of Commerce will commemorate Ronald Reagan’s connection to the town with a state historical marker that will be erected in 2011 at the Reagan family plot in the former Fulton Catholic cemetery.

The marker dedication will coincide with the state’s Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration.

Fulton resident and historian Nancy Kolk is a member of the Centennial Celebration Planning Committee, which meets monthly in Dixon.

On the Web

For more information on Ronald Reagan’s ancestral connection to Fulton, go to www.cityoffulton.us online. 

Learn more about the Ronald Reagan Trail Web at www.ronaldreagantrail.net online.

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