National Park Guide: Iowa's Herbert Hoover Historic Site

— -- The Herbert Hoover National Historic Site is more museum than park, and its message is aspirational.

The site, established in 1965, is meant to preserve the boyhood home of the 31st president of the U.S. and give visitors the chance to reflect on his life. The deeper meaning, park officials say, is to show that anyone in America can succeed.

"It talks about the unbounded opportunities of American life," says Mark Denker, facilities manager at the site and acting superintendent. "Herbert Hoover grew up here in Iowa and became president, and it kind of shows that other people can do it, too."

The site is one of two Iowa sites managed by the National Park Service— the other is Effigy Mounds National Monument in the northeast corner of the state. The Hoover site sits on 187 acres on the south side of West Branch, Iowa, just off Interstate 80 a few miles east of Iowa City.

It consists of the cottage where Hoover was born, the grave site where he and his wife are buried, several other historic buildings, a tallgrass prairie, a Quaker meeting house, a farm and Hoover's father's blacksmith shop.

Also on the site is the Presidential Library and Museum, which is run by the National Archives and Records Administration.

"There's a restored prairie that basically surrounds the area," says Mike Owen, a West Branch resident who enjoys the "cradle-to-grave" emphasis of the site.

"It's not contrived," Owen says. "It just gives that setting. It's not overly produced."

The cottage, built by Hoover's father in 1871, is 14 feet by 20 feet, according to the National Park Service. Hoover was proud of the modesty of it. He lived there until he was 11, when he was orphaned and moved to Oregon to live with a relative.

"In no other land could a boy from a country village, without inheritance or influential friends, look forward with unbound hope," Hoover wrote in his memoirs.

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About the park

Size: 187 acres

Visitors: 134,249 in 2011

Established: 1965

History: The park was established primarily to preserve the two-room cottage where Hoover was born and the grave site where he and his wife were buried, and to create a dignified setting for the Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.

When visiting: The park is at 110 Parkside Dr., West Branch, Iowa. Visitor info: 319-643-2541.

Of note: Herbert Hoover was the first U.S. president born west of the Mississippi River.

Belz also reports for TheDes Moines Register