Herbert Hoover Birthplace Cottage, Iowa Poster

"Herbert Hoover Birthplace Cottage, West Branch, Iowa" by Catherine Sherman. In West Branch, Iowa, the birthplace cottage of Herbert Hoover, the 31st U.S. president, has been restored to close to what it looked like when young "Bertie" lived there. In 1871, Jesse Hoover and his father Eli built this two-room cottage across the street from Jesse’s blacksmith shop. Jesse and his wife Hulda moved in with their young son Theodore. Herbert Hoover was born here on August 10, 1874. When “Bertie” was two his sister Mary was born. Herbert Hoover lived in the cottage only until he was three and half years old, according to the National Park Service. As Jesse prospered, the family moved to a larger, two-story house about one block south of here. The cottage is one of many buildings that are part of the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. Hoover spent the first eleven years of his life in West Branch. After the Hoover family acquired the cottage in the 1930s, they worked to develop a park to recreate Hoover's formative childhood experience. Among the park's buildings 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 on the grounds under a monument designed by William Wagner. After the death of Herbert Hoover, an 81-acre (33 ha) tallgrass prairie was developed. 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 Hoover's life. The park was established in 1965, shortly after it was named a National Historic Landmark. It now encompasses 186.8 acres (75.6 ha). Adjoining the historic site is the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, which opened in the 1960s to maintain Hoover's presidential papers and memorabilia.