Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
| Herbert Hoover National Historic Site | |
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Herbert Hoover Birthplace Cottage
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| Location | West Branch, Iowa, US |
| Nearest city | Iowa City, Iowa |
| Coordinates | 41°40′8″N 91°20′53″W / 41.66889°N 91.34806°WCoordinates: 41°40′8″N 91°20′53″W / 41.66889°N 91.34806°W |
| Area | 186.8 acres (75.6 ha) |
| Established | August 12, 1965 |
| Visitors | 152,214 (in 2005) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | Herbert Hoover National Historic Site |
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Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
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| NRHP Reference # |
66000110 (original) 13000594 (increase) |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Boundary increase | August 14, 2013 |
| Designated NHLD | June 23, 1965 |
The Herbert Hoover National Historic Site is a unit of the National Park System in West Branch, Iowa, United States. The buildings and grounds are managed by the National Park Service to commemorate the life of Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States. The park was established in 1965, shortly after it was named a National Historic Landmark. It now encompasses 186.8 acres (75.6 ha).
Hoover spent the first eleven years of his life in West Branch. The son of a blacksmith who practiced close to the town, Hoover was born in a small cottage in 1874. The family later moved nearby to the "House of the Maples", a two-story house. Within the next few years, Hoover was orphaned and left West Branch to live with relatives in Oregon. Hoover would go on to become a successful mining engineer, humanitarian, and President of the United States.
The birthplace cottage fell into private hands and became a tourist destination following Hoover's nomination to the presidency in 1928. After the Hoover family acquired the cottage in the 1930s, they worked to develop a park aimed at recreating Hoover's formative childhood experience. Among the buildings that now stand in the park are a blacksmith shop similar to the one owned by his father, the first West Branch schoolhouse, and the Quaker meetinghouse where the Hoover family worshiped. In the 1960s, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum first opened to maintain Hoover's presidential papers and memorabilia. Herbert and his wife, First Lady Lou Henry Hoover, are buried under a monument designed by William Wagner. After the death of Herbert Hoover, an 81-acre (33 ha) tallgrass prairie was developed.
Herbert Clark Hoover spent the first eleven years of his life in West Branch, Iowa, a small farming community with a population around 500. His birthplace cottage was built in the spring of 1871 at the corner of Penn and Downey Streets. The two-room cottage, built for recent settlers Jesse Clark Hoover and his wife Hulda, was only 14 by 20 feet (4.3 m × 6.1 m) and had two rooms. Jesse and Hulda were both Quakers. Jesse was a blacksmith, and opened a shop shortly after settling. The cottage was built on a stone foundation and built with board and batten timber. The timber was cut in a sawmill in Muscatine.
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