National Historic Sites · Iowa
Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
National Park Service source material · single source. Source dates and reuse information are available beside each field.
Check the official park website for current access, conditions and visitor information.
Introduction
Background: 1
Orphaned at age nine, Herbert Hoover left West Branch never to live here again. In later years, he returned to his humble birthplace to celebrate his long career of public service. A memorial landscape remains to tell his story: 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.
Geography
Designation: 3
National Historic Site
State or territory: 4
Iowa
Park Map - Herbert Hoover National Historic Site: 5
Map scope: Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
Map of Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in Iowa. All shown in perspective, some buildings are brown and others gray. Some gray streets and pathways are lined or filled in with yellow, and the Hoover Creek winds across the middle of tan map.
History and culture
The Cultural Landscape of Herbert Hoover's Hometown: 6
The park's historic structures, like the Birthplace Cottage , the Blacksmith Shop , the Schoolhouse , and the Friends Meetinghouse , symbolize American ideals as Herbert Hoover saw them and lived them. As additions to the historic landscape of Herbert's early years, the Gravesite , the Statue of Isis , and the Presidential Library and Museum connect his childhood to his later accomplishments.
On August 12, 1965, an act of Congress established this park as a national historic site. Since then, the National Park Service has preserved and interpreted the historic structures and landscape of this 187-acre park. In the late 1930's, President Hoover and his wife, Lou Henry Hoover, chose this place to celebrate the values they believed helped shape his life.
Herbert Hoover National Historic Site includes many features of Hoover's boyhood environment that have endured over time and give the park its unique identity as a Presidential birthplace, boyhood home, and memorial. Although much has changed here since Herbert Hoover's birth in 1874, the National Park Service, citizens of West Branch, and the Hoover family have worked to preserve key elements of the past that illuminate the life and times of America's 31st president.
Herbert Hoover's accomplished and public-spirited life drew inspiration from his birthplace. During your visit immerse yourself in the landscape Hoover and the activities he experienced as a child. His father's craft as a blacksmith, Hoover's religious upbringing, his love of fishing, the education he received-influences Herbert Hoover carried into his adult life and that contributed to his character. You'll also read and hear eloquent accounts of the adversity that touched a Quaker family and shaped the path of a young boy from West Branch who went on to serve his country as President. We hope you will find Herbert Hoover National Historic Site to be an inspiring, accessible educational, and recreational experience for years to come.
Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United States: 7
"My country owes me no debt. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor. In no other land could a boy from a country village, without inheritance or influential friends, look forward with unbounded hope."
Herbert Hoover, mining engineer, humanitarian, statesman, and 31st President of the United States, was born August 10, 1874 in a simple two-room cottage in West Branch, Iowa. His Quaker family had helped settle the town, and their principles of honesty, hard work, simplicity, and generosity guided Hoover throughout his life of service to the nation and the world.
Places: 8
Find your way to many places, large and small, in Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and around West Branch, Iowa. The NPS Mobile App displays these places, listed by categories.
History & Culture: 9
The historic buildings and landscape commemorate the life story of Herbert Hoover , 31st President of the United States. The National Park Service, which administers Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, preserves nationally significant historical and cultural treasures throughout the country.
Nature
Ecology; Nature: 10
Today farms and pastures cover the Iowa countryside but elements of the state's old natural beauty fill out the landscape commemorating Herbert Hoover's life . As a child in West Branch, President Hoover filled his days with experiences in nature. He swam and fished downstream in Wapsinonoc Creek. His rambles along the railroad bed collecting interesting rocks led to later studies of geology in college. These experiences gave Herbert Hoover an appreciation of the outdoors that persisted throughout his long life.
Places to explore
Things To Do: 11
Park rangers recommend setting aside a half day to explore Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. If you only have a couple of hours, get oriented at the Visitor Center , take a self-guided walk of the grounds and historic buildings, visit the Presidential Library and Museum and perhaps stop at the Gravesite or the tallgrass prairie observation deck on your way out. With one hour or less you can still see the 12-minute film and plan your visit at the Visitor Center . Walk to the Birthplace Cottage , the Blacksmith Shop , the Schoolhouse , and the Friends Meetinghouse . Then come back again when you have more time to visit. Herbert Hoover National Historic Site is much more than a quick stop off Interstate 80!
Visitor information
Visitation
Sources & field notes
Source records (15)
Select a numbered reference to open a source card. Retrieval dates describe this edition’s source capture, rather than an independent verification or the date of the underlying information.
Background · Official park structured information. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored government work generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
Crook's Hotel, 1878 · National Archives & Records Administration. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Source scope
- Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- Public domain:Full Granting Rights
- Rights
- Public domain:Full Granting Rights
Designation · National Park System directory. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- Factual reference data; source attribution retained.
State or territory · National Park System directory. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- Factual reference data; source attribution retained.
Park Map - Herbert Hoover National Historic Site · National Park Service, Harpers Ferry Center. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Source scope
- Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
- Download
- Official map PDF ↗
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- Public domain; NPS map
- Rights
- Public domain; NPS map
The Cultural Landscape of Herbert Hoover's Hometown · The Cultural Landscape of Herbert Hoover's Hometown — National Park Service. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Source page last updated
- April 15, 2021
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-authored U.S. government material is generally public domain; third-party content may have separate rights.
Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United States · Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United States — National Park Service. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Source page last updated
- April 15, 2021
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-authored U.S. government material is generally public domain; third-party content may have separate rights.
Places · Places — National Park Service. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Source page last updated
- February 12, 2021
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-authored U.S. government material is generally public domain; third-party content may have separate rights.
History & Culture · National Park Service. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-authored U.S. government material is generally public domain; third-party material may have separate rights. No images copied.
Ecology; Nature · Nature — National Park Service. Open source ↗
- Information date
- February 13, 2019
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS webpage text; U.S. government work generally public domain. Third-party material may have separate rights.
Things To Do · National Park Service. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored U.S. government work is generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
Physical Address · Official park structured information. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored government work generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
Mailing Address · Official park structured information. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored government work generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
Telephone · Official park structured information. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored government work generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
Recreation visits · National Park Service Visitor Use Statistics. Open source ↗
- Information date
- 2025
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Methodology
- NPS reporting unit; annual total is the sum of 12 monthly recreation visit estimates.
- Reporting unit
- Herbert Hoover NHS
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- Factual reference data; source attribution retained.