The building was constructed in 1896 for G.W. Stauffer by Fred Harvey Seymour and later became known as the "Graham Building". From 1896–1915 the first floor of the building housed a tavern while the second floor contained an apartment. On October 1, 1906 Jack and Nelle Reagan moved into the apartment above the tavern. The Reagans had two sons while they lived in the apartment. In 1908, they had their first son, John Neil Reagan. Their second son, Ronald Wilson Reagan, was born on February 6, 1911 inside the second floor apartment. Family legend has it that when Jack first saw his ten-pound baby son, he said, “He looks like a fat little Dutchman. But who knows, he might grow up to be president some day.” In a small town like Tampico in 1911, a new baby was such big news that four days after the birth the "Tampico Tornado" newspaper printed the rather unusual birth announcement that read, “February 10, 1911 John REAGAN has been calling thirty-seven inches a yard and giving seventeen ounces for a pound this week at PITNEY’s store, he has been feeling so jubilant over the arrival of a ten pound boy Monday.”