In 1975 , the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Corporation announced its decision to locate the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on a 10-acre site offered by the university adjacent to the Harbor Campus on Columbia Point . In October 1963 , President Kennedy had personally selected a site in Harvard Square near his alma mater , but after his assassination , Cambridge residents actively opposed the Kennedy family 's efforts to build a presidential library there due to traffic concerns . Designed by architect I. M. Pei , construction for the building broke ground on June 12 , 1977 , and was completed and dedicated in October 1979 . Two years later , the state government announced that it would construct a new building for the Massachusetts State Archives and Commonwealth Museum next to the Harbor Campus and the JFK Library , and on December 2 , 1982 , the MBTA renamed Columbia station to JFK/UMass station
his assassination
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
University of Massachusetts Boston