My first day in Iowa began with a visit to the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum. This is located south of the Lincoln Highway in West Branch, where Hoover was born. Even though he was orphaned as a child and sent to live with relatives in Oregon, he still considered this his home. Though Hoover is still associated with the Great Depression, his accomplishments in life were actually remarkable. He became a millionaire in the mining business, then headed up efforts to feed starving people both during and after World War I. The southern part of the small town of West Branch is devoted to the museum, and many of the homes and buildings from Hoover's days there have been preserved and moved to the grounds of the museum. He and his wife Lou are buried on a pretty hillside there.
Here are some Lincoln Highway markers and exhibits I saw along the way today. The concrete posts were erected by the Boy Scouts and the Lincoln Highway Association in 1927, and they were supposed to mark the way "permanently." Some of them have been relocated, but many remain in their original positions.
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| Front yard in Lisbon |
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Site of old LH bridge removed for
newer highway |
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The Abbe Creek School near Mt. Vernon,
named for first prominent settler of area |
I got off the road early today, stopping in Cedar Rapids. I went to a minor league baseball game, and the Cedar Rapids Kernels (yes, they're named for corn) took on the Quad Cities River Bandits. This is what's called the Mid West League.
