West Branch Schoolhouse at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

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The West Branch Schoolhouse was built in 1853 on the corner of today’s Downey and Main streets by the Quakers, the predominate religious organization at the time in West Branch. The building doubled as a meeting house (Quaker equivalent of a church) up until 1857 when the Quakers built a permanent meeting house. The schoolhouse is the oldest building in West Branch.

After the Civil War, the town’s population increased rapidly, and soon as many as 60 children were attending school in the small building. To alleviate the overcrowding, a new schoolhouse was built in 1867. The original building was moved to a lot next to the new school where it continued to operate as a school for the primary grades.

Herbert Hoover’s father, Jesse, attended school in the building. His family moved to West Branch in 1854 when he was six. Herbert’s older brother (by a year), Tad, also attended classes at the school. Herbert began classes in September 1879, but it is not known for sure if he first went to the old or the new schoolhouse. The reason is that the new schoolhouse was expanded in 1877, so it is not known if the old schoolhouse remained open after this. In later years, his teacher Lizzie Chandler said that she did indeed teach him in the old building, but there are no school records to back up her statement.

The West Branch Schoolhouse was sold around 1884. The new owners, Frank and Martha Rowlen, moved the building to a new location and used it as their residence. The house remained in the family until 1911 (their son lived in it at the time).

The people who purchased the building in 1928, Tom and Thelma Taylor, remodeled the house in 1940 to the point that it was no longer recognizable as the old schoolhouse. Part of the expansion was an ell for a new kitchen, a front porch, and a large fireplace. Once the renovation was complete, they sold it to Tom’s grandmother for a dollar.

In 1954, the new Herbert Hoover High School opened, and there was a renewed interest in what had become of the original schoolhouse. It was at this time that Lizzie Chandler was interviewed and reported that she had taught Herbert in the original schoolhouse.

The last owners of the building before it became part of the park were Bruce and Lila Thompson. In the late 1950s, they sold (or possibly donated) it to the West Branch Community School District. For a time the building was used as housing for teachers, then as a storage facility and band room. It was eventually purchased by the West Branch Heritage Foundation in 1968 for possible restoration. It was then moved to a temporary location within Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, and title was transferred to the Herbert Hoover Birthplace Foundation (now the Hoover Presidential Foundation). The Foundation footed the bill for the restoration, and in 1971 the school was moved to its current location.

Today the interior is decorated as a schoolhouse might have been in the late 1800s.