Clinton's Hope home on its way to Historic Site status
The Associated Press
A bill that would make Bill Clinton's first home in Hope a National Historic Site passed the House on Wednesday and needs only the president's signature to become law.
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— A bill that would make Bill Clinton's first home in Hope a National Historic Site passed the House on Wednesday and needs only the president's signature to become law.

The House of Representatives voted 285-140 on the measure that included the wording that would bring the Clinton home on Hervey Street under the National Park Service as one of 33 presidential historic sites.

The Senate earlier passed the bill, which now heads to President Barack Obama. U.S. Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., who has worked for years to help Clinton's first home attain federal status, said Obama is expected to sign the bill.

The site is owned by the Clinton Birthplace Foundation, which has operated the home as a museum. It also owns other Clinton-related property in Hope. The home has drawn visitors from all 50 states and dozens of nations. The home is restored to the era when Clinton was a boy there from 1946 through 1950, and the foundation has worked to bring it up to National Park Service standards for an easy transition.

Clinton's mother, Virginia Kelley, moved from the home when she remarried to Roger Clinton.

Restoration of the home began in 1995 and it opened to the public in 1997.

"This has been a team effort and I am pleased to have worked with Senators Lincoln and Pryor on this historic landmarks bill as they sought to ensure its passage in the Senate," Ross said. "This is a proud day for us to be able to honor the 42nd President of the United States and the first Arkansan to hold that office, William Jefferson Clinton, by designating his birthplace home in Hope as a U.S. National Historic Site."

The Clinton first home designation is included in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which includes over 160 bills that protect the nation's wilderness, historic sites, national parks, rivers and public trails and water resources.

"National historic designations not only help protect our historical landmarks, but they also improve economic development in small towns such as Hope by creating positions like park rangers, security workers and other support staff at the site, boosting overall tourism for the area," Ross said.

Ross noted that he graduated from Hope High School 30 years ago and that he took a personal interest in the project.

"We place great significance on the homes of presidents because they represent the core of what makes America unique in world history, that any person, regardless of his or her beginning, can one day become the leader of the most powerful country in the world. Clinton's story, like most presidents, could only have happened right here in America."