After an overnight stop in Des Moines, we headed to Davenport Iowa for a couple of days. While there we wanted to explore the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch, Iowa. It was so refreshing to step back in time to an era of living a simple and wholesome life.
Welcome to Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and Presidential Library-Museum, West Branch, Iowa
Herbert Hoover National Historic Site Iowa
This clothing was worn by both Herbert Hoover and his younger brother Allan.
West Branch IA is the birthplace of Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st President of the United States. He was born on August 10, 1874, the first son of Hulda and Jesse Hoover. Sadly, in 1880, when Herbert was only 6, his father died, at the age of 34, of rheumatism of the heart complicated by pneumonia. Only a few years later, Herbert’s mother Hulda was buried next to her husband when she died, at age 35, from typhoid and pneumonia in 1884.
Humble beginnings
Herbert Hoover’s baby crib, high chair and quilt.
Since he was orphaned so young, at the age of 9, Herbert Hoover left West Branch to live with relatives. He returned to his humble birthplace as a married adult, to celebrate his long career of public service. This serene National Historic site lives on to tell his story of how community, hard work, honesty, and usefulness to others opened a world of opportunity, and the presidency of the United States, to a child of simple beginnings.
Birthplace cottage
Hoover was born here and then grew up to become the 1st US President who was born west of the Mississippi.
Welcome to Herbert Hoover’s birth home in West Branch, Iowa
The kitchen in the home Herbert Hoover grew up in.
Dining area in the Hoover’s 2 room house
After his presidency, Herbert and his wife Lou, restored the president’s humble birthplace. The small cottage, and few material possessions reflect an ethic of thrift. The small, two room house, was a typical starter home for a young late 19th century family. The antique furnishings that we saw, represent common household items of a simply furnished rural home.
Sitting area
Cozy Hoover family bedroom
Sewing area in the bedroom of the Hoover home
Blacksmith shop
Herbert Hoover’s father, Jesse, was a blacksmith and his mother, Hulda, was a Quaker minister.
Inside the Blacksmith Shop of Jesse Hoover
Jesse Hoover owned and operated a blacksmith shop from 1871 to 1878. He was not the only blacksmith in the small town of West Branch, but he did earn a great reputation as a good-natured, fair, and industrious businessman. He was skilled and ambitious and he advertised to farmers: “Horse shoeing and plow work a specialty. Also dealer in all kinds of pumps. Prices to suit the times.”
This modern day blacksmith is showing us how it’s done
She’s forming the wrought iron bottle opener that she’s is making just for us!
This Blacksmith Shop is still in use today! We watched the lovely Blacksmith apprentice make us a fabulous wrought iron bottle opener. We have that bottle opener hanging in Ladybug’s kitchen, ready for opening any non-screw cap bottles we might encounter. It’s a fun reminder of the great day we spent at the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site Iowa!
Friends Meetinghouse
Hoover grew up in a religious community that had high values. Among them peace, simplicity, integrity, and service to others. The plainly furnished Friends Meetinghouse was built in 1857 by the Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, in 1857. The Friends Meetinghouse that we visited in July, is actually two blocks from its original location. The Herbert Hoover Birthplace Foundation relocated and restored this meetinghouse in 1964.
Gravesite
Final Resting Place of Herbert Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover in West Branch Iowa
The Hoovers’ Gravesites
When Herbert Hoover died on October 20, 1964 at the age of 90, he was laid to rest five days later in the quiet, grassy hillside that we visited. And in my mind’s eye I can picture the more than 100,000 people who lined the funeral procession route from Cedar Rapids to West Branch on that fall day.
Library and museum
On site is the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library – Museum
Foyer of the Herbert Hoover Library-Museum opened August 10, 1962
Herbert Hoover Galleries entrance
Herbert Hoover growing up in West Branch Iowa
As all presidential libraries, this one is part of the National Archives. The presidential library gives us the opportunity to explore the legacy of Herbert Hoover’s presidency. It seems quite fitting that the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum opened to the public on August 10, 1962, on Herbert Hoover’s 88th birthday.
One Room Schoolhouse
One room schoolhouse in West Branch IA
Herbert Hoover’s schoolroom
Herbert Hoover recalled, “Iowa in those years was filled with days of school, and who does not remember with a glow, some gentle woman, who with infinite patience and kindness, drilled into us those foundations of all we know today.”
Statue of Isis at the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
Isis – the goddess of life
The statue of Isis is quite impressive. It’s a bronze, seven and a half foot tall statue “Isis, Goddess of Life” and is the work of Belgian sculptor Auguste Puttemans. This gorgeous piece of art was a gift from the people of Belgium to thank Hoover for his famine relief efforts on their behalf during World War I. The quote on the statue reads: “I am that which was and is and will ever be, and no mortal has yet lifted the veil which covers me”.
Quaker Burial Ground
The first cemetery in West Branch was next to the Friends meetinghouse, when it was at its original location on North Downey Street. In 1879 the city purchased a parcel of land just northwest of town, on North Maple Street, for use as a new cemetery that would include a section exclusively for use as the Quaker burial ground.
Herbert Hoover’s parents, Jesse and Hulda Hoover, are buried among relatives at the West Branch Municipal Cemetery on North Maple Street.
About Herbert Hoover
Working in Australia
As the leader of U.S. government efforts to send food supplies to war torn areas of Europe, Herbert Hoover is remembered as the Great Humanitarian. He was credited with saving 10 million lives during World War I!
Hoover Inaugurated
He won the presidency in a landslide victory in the 1928 election, defeating Democrat Al Smith of New York. He was defeated in the 1932 presidential election by Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
After his parents death, he went to live with his mother’s brother, his uncle Henry Minthorn, in Oregon. From there he began an odyssey that would make him a multi-millionaire, international humanitarian, secretary of commerce, and President of the United States.
He lived with the Minthorns for six years when, at the age of 14, he left school to work as a clerk in his uncle’s real estate business. Then, 3 years later, he decided to pursue a career as mining engineer. This that end, Hoover sought to resume his studies and applied to a new school, Leland Stanford Junior University, which was set to open in 1891.
It was at Stanford that he met his future wife, Lou Henry.
Early Career
Working in Australia
Herbert Hoover graduated in 1895 and over the next two decades made his fortune as an international mining engineer and financier. But by 1914, he longed for more than wealth, and World War I gave him an opportunity for public service. At first, he helped Americans stranded in Europe. Following that, he established the Commission for Relief in Belgium to provide food for the civilians trapped in the war zone.
Herbert Hoover received The Iowa Award
His compassionate humanitarianism got him an invitation from President Woodrow Wilson to become U.S. Food Administrator in 1917. It was his job to ration domestic food supplies to feed the allied armies as well as the American people. After the war, Hoover was director general of the American Relief Administration, an agency established to address the widespread famine in Europe. This humanitarianism led to him being sought by both political parties as a candidate for President in 1920
Herbert Hoover as Secretary of Commerce
Model House of the 1920s. Hoover spurred an explosion of home building due to his Better Homes in America organization which advocated standardization.
Building the Hoover Dam near Las Vegas, NV
Eventually Hoover declared that he was a Republican and accepted President Warren Harding’s invitation to serve as Secretary of Commerce. At the Department of Commerce he established a wide range of standards for manufactured products, campaigned against waste and inefficiency in industry, and encouraged the growth of new industries such as radio and aviation. He became one of the most admired men Washington, but his fame reached new heights in 1927 because of his extraordinary service to assist the victims of the Mississippi River Flood that year.
The Hoover’s Presidential dishes
Dresses of the era belonging to First Lady Lou Henry Hoover
Because he was so admired for his humanitarian efforts and his work as Secretary of Commerce through two presidencies, he easily won the election of 1928 to become the 31at President of the United States.
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