Herbert Hoover’s birthplace home, Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

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The Birthplace Cottage at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site is the actual house Hebert Hoover was born in, and back in 1874, born in literally meant born in. Nobody was born in a hospital. The two-room house was built in 1871 by Eli and Jesse Hoover, Herbert’s grandfather and father, respectively. At the time, the Hoovers already had one child, Tad (January 28, 1871). Both Herbert (August 10, 1874) and his sister Mary (September 1, 1876) were born in the house, so there were five people living in a very small space at one time.

Herbert Hoover’s birthplace home at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

The house is only 280 square feet in size and consists of two rooms plus a porch with a part of it enclosed. One room served as the family room, dining room, and a kitchen in the winter (stove heated the room). The other room, only 95 square feet, is where the entire family slept. The enclosed portion of the porch was used as a storage area and extra sleeping area. In the summer, the stove was moved out of the family room and into the shed due to the heat it produced.

Room in the Birthplace Cottage where everyone in the Hoover family slept, Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

Bedroom furnishings in the Birthplace Cottage, Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

The Hoovers lived in the cottage until May 1879, the first four-and-a-half years of Herbert’s life. At that time they purchased a larger, four-room house at the corner of Downey and Cedar streets. It stood near the driveway entrance to the modern Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum. The house was torn down in the early 1920s.

Jesse sold the cottage and his blacksmith shop in 1879 to G. M. D. Hill. The house subsequently had a couple of owners, and by 1899 it was in the hands of the R. Portland Scellers Family. Scellers moved the house to the rear of the lot and rotated it 90 degrees. He owned a two-story frame house on Penn Street, and he had it moved to the Hoover lot and attached to the cottage, which he used as a kitchen. He made many other changes, including removing the dividing wall between the bedroom and family room to create a single room, and removing the storage shed so there was one, larger porch that he partially enclosed and screened. Siding was added to match the siding on the main house.

Storage shed and summer kitchen in the Birthplace Cottage, Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

Portland Scellers died in July 1916, leaving all his property to his wife, Jennie. Around this time, Herbert Hoover began making a name for himself, first for helping to organize relief for thousands of Americans who fled the European continent and ended up in London when World War I began in 1914 (Hoover was living in London). By the time he was nominated for president in 1928 by the Republican Party, he and his wife, Lou Henry, had visited West Branch a few times to see old friends and relatives. He actually came to West Branch to give a speech upon being nominated, and he and Lou had breakfast in his old house as guests of Jennie Sceller. He was popular enough that Jennie turned the house into a tourist attraction, charging 10 cents for a tour. She even started hosting weddings for a fee. It was so successful that she herself became somewhat of a celebrity. She had quite a few offers to buy the house, but she refused. She wouldn’t even sell it to the Hoovers, who had been trying to buy it since 1930 through various “secret” agents.

Jennie Scellers died in 1934, and her property was left to her four children. They agreed to sell the house and property to Fred Albin, a boyhood friend of Herbert’s and an agent for Allen Hoover, son of Herbert and Lou. Nobody knew who Albin was or why he was purchasing the property, which also included additional lots on Downey Street that the Scellers had accumulated over the years. The deal was signed on July 29, 1935. It wasn’t until that October that Albin deeded the property to Allan Hoover at no charge.

With the Birthplace Cottage now in the hands of the Hoovers, Lou set out to restore the house to its 1874 appearance. In the summer of 1938, the restoration began. The Sceller House addition was torn down and the cottage was moved back to its original location. Herbert did not recall the details of the house since he lived in it only until he was four years old. Therefore, Lou solicited advice from Tad, who was only a year older than Herbert and not much help, and relatives who lived in the area, one being an aunt of Hoover’s, Mattie Pemberton (Jesse’s sister). The restoration was completed by the end of the year.

View from the back porch of the Hoover Birthplace Cottage, Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

The next order of business was furnishing the cottage, and once again Lou relied on the memory of Tad and Mattie Pemberton. Mattie had been in the cottage a few times, so she had a good recollection of what was inside. There was also a list of possessions from the Probate Court after Jesse’s death in December 1880 and the death of Herbert’s mother, Huldah, in February 1884. Of course, many items on the lists could have been purchased when the family moved to Cedar Street, but they do indicate the type of furniture the Hoovers had a preference for.

Lou went about contacting Hoover relatives to see if anyone had some of the original furnishings. A few people had furniture from the time period similar to what the Hoovers had and donated the items to the cottage. The Hoover Birthplace Society, which was formed in 1939 to maintain the property, also began searching for and purchasing furniture similar to what might have been in the cottage. The furnishing phase of the restoration was completed in 1941.

The sewing machine in the bedroom was donated by a lady who actually purchased it from Jesse when he had a farm equipment store. In the family room is a cupboard that supposedly Jesse helped build. It now sits on top off a chest of drawers. The Hoovers also owned the bureau in the bedroom when they lived in the cottage. Everything else is just period furniture. (Note: Herbert’s cradle and high chair are on display in the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site Visitor Center. Both were originally in the cottage.)

Family room in the Birthplace Cottage, Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

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