Key dates in Ronald Reagan's Illinois life

[February 03, 2011]  (AP) -- Most Americans know Ronald Reagan as the president from California who swept a conservative revolution into Washington when he was elected in 1980, but Reagan's first 21 years were spent in Illinois. He moved from town to town with his family, following his father's jobs, before settling in 1920 in Dixon. Some key dates in Reagan's life in Illinois and the Midwest:

Feb. 6, 1911 -- Ronald Wilson Reagan is born to Nelle and Jack Reagan in a small apartment in Tampico, Ill. He is their second child.

1914 -- Pitney's, the Tampico store where Reagan's father works as a salesman, closes. The family begins a series of moves that will take them over several years to small Illinois towns like Galesburg and Monmouth, back to Tampico, and to Chicago.

1920 -- Reagan's family settles in Dixon, where he will spend the rest of his youth. The family, though, will continue to move in town over the years.

1922 -- Reagan is baptized in his mother's church, the First Christian Church in Dixon. His mother's faith has a heavy influence on Reagan.

1926 -- Reagan graduates from Dixon High School, where he played football and several other sports while also a member of the drama club. He also begins working as a lifeguard, a job he'll keep for a number of summers while, according to local news stories at the time, saving 77 lives.

1928 -- Reagan enrolls in Eureka College, a small, private school about 100 miles south of Dixon in Eureka, Ill., and majors in economics and sociology.

1932 -- Reagan graduates from Eureka and starts looking for a job in radio. He eventually finds one, calling Iowa football games on WOC in Davenport.

1933 -- Reagan moves to Des Moines, where he has a job as a sports announcer calling Chicago Cubs games.

1935 -- A successful screen test while traveling to Los Angeles with the Cubs leads Reagan to leave for California.

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Sources: The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library, Ronald Reagan Birthplace and Museum, Eureka College, Associated Press research.

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