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Two men taking a cover off a stone with a plaque on it, and there’s a crowd behind them. Boston Globe via Getty Images

U.S. presidents in the Boston area, from Washington to Obama

Both Bushes, both Roosevelts, and both Adamses included—and don’t forget Rutherford B. Hayes

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Donald Trump has never lived in the Boston area, but several of his predecessors have.

The region’s connections to the the nation’s presidents, in fact, stretch back to before there was a presidency: George Washington lived in the area while commanding the Continental Army during the early days of the Revolutionary War.

In total, 12 presidents have called the Boston area home at one time or another.

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George Washington

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George Washington commanded the Continental Army from this house now at 105 Brattle Street during the Siege of Boston from July 1775 to April 1776. It was later the home of poet Henry Longfellow, and is now called the Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site.

Before he moved into these roomy digs, Washington stayed briefly at what’s now Harvard’s Wadsworth House at 1341 Massachusetts Avenue.

A stately two-story mansion at the end of a long walkway and lawn. Shutterstock

John F. Kennedy

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The 35th president was born in this house at 83 Beals Street in 1917. It is now a museum, with Rose Kennedy, JFK’s mother, restoring it beginning in the late 1960s. Kennedy has more familial and biographical connections to the Boston area than any other president, having studied at Harvard and launched his political career in Boston.

Theodore Roosevelt

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The 26th president lived on the second floor of what was then 16 Winthrop Street—now 38 Winthrop—while he was a student at Harvard. According to biographer Katherine Dalton, the asthmatic Roosevelt took an off-campus, second-floor room because the ground-floor spaces of campus addresses were considered unhealthy. 

Black-and-white photograph of a two-and-a-half-story house with two chimneys. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library/Dickinson State University

Rutherford B. Hayes

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The 19th president lived just off Harvard Square while a law student at Harvard in the early 1840s. His exact residence appears lost to history (as, by and large, does Hayes himself). 

A statue of a man seated overlooking a busy square in a city. Shutterstock

Franklin D. Roosevelt

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The 32nd president paid $225.50 a year (before maintenance and utilities) to share a first-floor room in what is now Adams House from 1900 to 1904, while a student at Harvard.

The arched top of a small columned building. Shutterstock

George W. Bush

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The 43rd president lived for two years in a “notoriously untidy and sparse” apartment on the square while a student at the Harvard Business School in the early 1970s, according to a Bloomberg article from 2001. The exact address appears to be unknown. 

A church with a prominent steeple in a city square. Shutterstock

Barack Obama

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The 44th president leased a basement apartment at 365 Broadway in Somerville while a student at Harvard Law in the late 1980s. He found the apartment through a newspaper ad (remember doing that?). 

People outside of a multi-story, turreted apartment building. Boston Globe via Getty Images

George H.W. Bush

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The house at 173 Adams Street in which the 41st president was born in 1924 is still a private residence and not open to the public. Look for the historic marker unveiled in 1997, however.

Two men taking a cover off a stone with a plaque on it, and there’s a crowd behind them. Boston Globe via Getty Images

Calvin Coolidge

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The 30th president did not actually live in the Boston area when he was governor of Massachusetts from 1919 to 1921, though he did conduct the commonwealth’s business from offices at the State House. Instead, he continued to rent one half of a two-family house in Northampton at 21 Massasoit Street. (Though some might consider Northampton as being within the Boston area.)

The exterior of the Massachusetts State House. The building is red brick and there is a gold dome. There are white columns on the facade. Glenn Leblanc/Getty Images

John Adams

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The second president was born here in 1735. The so-called saltbox house is part of the Adams National Historical Park that the National Park Service operates. Adams and wife Abigail are interred a few miles away at United First Parish Church.

John Quincy Adams

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The sixth president was born in 1767 on the same patch of ground as his father (the official spots are separated by several feet). Like his parents, the younger Adams is also interred a few miles away at United First Parish Church in the family crypt.  

A one-and-a-half-story rectangular house that’s very small. Universal Images Group via Getty

William Howard Taft

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William Howard Taft and his family summered in Beverly—first at a cottage in present-day Lynch Park and then at a house on East Corning Street—throughout his one term beginning in 1909.

A multi-story house on a promontory on the coast. Beverly Public Library/NOBLE Digital Heritage

George Washington

George Washington commanded the Continental Army from this house now at 105 Brattle Street during the Siege of Boston from July 1775 to April 1776. It was later the home of poet Henry Longfellow, and is now called the Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site.

Before he moved into these roomy digs, Washington stayed briefly at what’s now Harvard’s Wadsworth House at 1341 Massachusetts Avenue.

A stately two-story mansion at the end of a long walkway and lawn. Shutterstock

John F. Kennedy

The 35th president was born in this house at 83 Beals Street in 1917. It is now a museum, with Rose Kennedy, JFK’s mother, restoring it beginning in the late 1960s. Kennedy has more familial and biographical connections to the Boston area than any other president, having studied at Harvard and launched his political career in Boston.

Theodore Roosevelt

The 26th president lived on the second floor of what was then 16 Winthrop Street—now 38 Winthrop—while he was a student at Harvard. According to biographer Katherine Dalton, the asthmatic Roosevelt took an off-campus, second-floor room because the ground-floor spaces of campus addresses were considered unhealthy. 

Black-and-white photograph of a two-and-a-half-story house with two chimneys. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library/Dickinson State University

Rutherford B. Hayes

The 19th president lived just off Harvard Square while a law student at Harvard in the early 1840s. His exact residence appears lost to history (as, by and large, does Hayes himself). 

A statue of a man seated overlooking a busy square in a city. Shutterstock

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The 32nd president paid $225.50 a year (before maintenance and utilities) to share a first-floor room in what is now Adams House from 1900 to 1904, while a student at Harvard.

The arched top of a small columned building. Shutterstock

George W. Bush

The 43rd president lived for two years in a “notoriously untidy and sparse” apartment on the square while a student at the Harvard Business School in the early 1970s, according to a Bloomberg article from 2001. The exact address appears to be unknown. 

A church with a prominent steeple in a city square. Shutterstock

Barack Obama

The 44th president leased a basement apartment at 365 Broadway in Somerville while a student at Harvard Law in the late 1980s. He found the apartment through a newspaper ad (remember doing that?). 

People outside of a multi-story, turreted apartment building. Boston Globe via Getty Images

George H.W. Bush

The house at 173 Adams Street in which the 41st president was born in 1924 is still a private residence and not open to the public. Look for the historic marker unveiled in 1997, however.

Two men taking a cover off a stone with a plaque on it, and there’s a crowd behind them. Boston Globe via Getty Images

Calvin Coolidge

The 30th president did not actually live in the Boston area when he was governor of Massachusetts from 1919 to 1921, though he did conduct the commonwealth’s business from offices at the State House. Instead, he continued to rent one half of a two-family house in Northampton at 21 Massasoit Street. (Though some might consider Northampton as being within the Boston area.)

The exterior of the Massachusetts State House. The building is red brick and there is a gold dome. There are white columns on the facade. Glenn Leblanc/Getty Images

John Adams

The second president was born here in 1735. The so-called saltbox house is part of the Adams National Historical Park that the National Park Service operates. Adams and wife Abigail are interred a few miles away at United First Parish Church.

John Quincy Adams

The sixth president was born in 1767 on the same patch of ground as his father (the official spots are separated by several feet). Like his parents, the younger Adams is also interred a few miles away at United First Parish Church in the family crypt.  

A one-and-a-half-story rectangular house that’s very small. Universal Images Group via Getty

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft and his family summered in Beverly—first at a cottage in present-day Lynch Park and then at a house on East Corning Street—throughout his one term beginning in 1909.

A multi-story house on a promontory on the coast. Beverly Public Library/NOBLE Digital Heritage