Quincy Advances Plan to Build Presidential Center for Father and Son Presidents
A plan to create a presidential center honoring our nation’s second president and his son is advancing in Quincy. Quincy City Councilor Scott Campbell is one of several individuals from…
circa 1796: John Adams (1735 – 1826), the 2nd President of the United States of America (elected 1796). (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
A plan to create a presidential center honoring our nation's second president and his son is advancing in Quincy.
Quincy City Councilor Scott Campbell is one of several individuals from Massachusetts backing the idea for a presidential center built to recognize John Adams, the second U.S. president, and his son, John Quincy Adams, the nation's sixth president.
While historical sites connected to the Adams family exist throughout Quincy, including their farm and home, there isn't a presidential center that commemorates their contributions to the early years of the country.
"This is a family who changed America and built America. The fact there isn't something already is shocking," said Campbell in comments shared with CBS News Boston WBZ-TV.
"It is unbelievable, really, to think that we're at this stage in our evolution as a nation, and we have yet to honor John and John Quincy in a very meaningful way," said Dr. Kurt Graham, former director of the Harry Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri. Graham became the Adams Presidential Center's first president in October 2024. "This is not just simply something for Quincy or for Boston or for Massachusetts. This really is something of national importance."
According to a 2024 report by The Patriot Ledger, the Adams Presidential Center is organized as a nonprofit overseen by a board of directors without government oversight. Its management structure is similar to that of institutions such as Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and George Washington's Mount Vernon, both located in Virginia.
Unlike a traditional presidential library, the Adams Presidential Center is being seen as a "multidimensional hub of scholarly research, educational outreach, and a busy physical space in downtown Quincy," according to the Boston Globe. The new facility will tell the story of the Adams family and their contributions to the birth and development of the early United States.
