TAMPICO – Ethel Rosene has more in common with Ronald Reagan than most in the former president's home village: The same community doctor helped both of their mothers at birth.

Which gave Saturday's historical marker unveiling at Ronald Reagan Park a little extra significance for Rosene.

"This is something wonderful for us, to live in the same little town where the only president born in Illinois is from," Rosene said after representatives from the Illinois State Historical Society unveiled a cast aluminum tablet at the small park where a young Reagan used to play.

Saturday's event marked the kickoff of the 2011 centennial celebration of Reagan's birth.

The 40th president was born in an upstairs apartment of a house on Tampico's Main Street.

He is the only U.S. president to have been born in Illinois.

The historical marker, which pays homage to Reagan and two other notable Tampico residents, will sit under the shade of a chestnut in the small park.

At the unveiling, Tampico Mayor Larry Spect said the marker "is indicative of the pride we have always felt to be the home of the only president to be born in Illinois."

Statue planned

The Tampico Historical Society is selling paving bricks for $100 each to help raise money for a $50,000 statue of a young Ronald Reagan playing on a cannon that used to sit in Ronald Reagan Park.

Contact Joan Johnson at the Historical Society, 815-622-8705, for more information.