The Richard Nixon Birthplace
The Richard Nixon Birthplace is where the 37th President of the United States, Richard Nixon, was born and spent his childhood. It is a historic house museum on the grounds of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, at 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard.
Nixon was born the following year at the house, which was built on family ranchland in 1912. His family resided in that house until 1922, when they moved to Whittier, California. The former home was named a National Historic Landmark in 1973 and a California Historical Landmark in 1994.
The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum is located on the north side of Yorba Linda Boulevard at its intersection with Eureka Avenue, west of downtown Yorba Linda. The museum complex and parking lot dominate the grounds, while the Birthplace is located east of the main facility, among a grove of trees. It’s a one-and-a-half-story Craftsman bungalow with a clapboarded façade and a gabled roof. A massive shed-roof dormer emerges from the north roof face, and the main entry is protected by a gabled hood. Some of its windows have diamond-pane sashes or panels.
Francis A. Nixon built the house in 1912 from a mail-order construction kit on family ranchland. Richard Nixon was born the following year at this house, and the family lived there until 1922, when they moved to Whittier.
Francis Nixon sold off pieces of the 8-acre (3.2-hectare) land in 1922 and 1925, with the majority going to the Yorba Linda School District for the construction of a school. The district purchased the rest of the property in 1948, and the house was used as employee housing.
Nixon formed a non-profit library organization after winning his first presidential election in 1968. The property was deeded to the group by the school system in 1988. The school was dismantled, and the museum was constructed on its site.
The house where Richard Nixon was born changed hands multiple times after the Nixons left in 1922. Between 1922 and 1925, the president’s father, Frank Nixon, sold portions of the property to the Yorba Linda School District, which purchased five and a half acres to build a school. In 1948, the school system purchased the remaining acreage, including the birthplace, and housed the school’s caretaker there. Nixon formed the private charity Richard Nixon Library Foundation after becoming president in 1969 to build his presidential library. Despite the fact that building on the library did not begin until after he left office, fundraising continued. In 1978, a group of merchants purchased the birthplace on behalf of the Foundation. The Nixon Library Foundation received the full nine and one-half-acre site from the City of Yorba Linda ten years later. The mansion was meticulously restored in preparation for the Nixon Library’s opening in 1990, including the bedstead in which President Nixon was born. The private Nixon Library was turned over to the Federal Government’s National Archives and Records Administration on July 11, 2007. The Foundation still manages the house, which is open to the public.
Next Point of Interest: Chino Hills State Park