October 16, 2012: Birthplace Cottage at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch. Like most famous Iowans, Hoover left the state before anyone recognized him.
In last Sunday’s Des Moines Register, Kyle Munson picked 18 landmarks across Iowa to represent the state’s history. Many of them are familiar but each tells a different part of the Iowa story.
My personal score is three as a student (I think), eight as an adult*, five not at all, and two halves: the Surf Ballroom but not the crash site, and the John Wayne birthplace house but not the museum that just opened.
(As a passing reference to his passing reference, I don’t think Munson ever finished the 100-county-seat “shortest route” trip set, either.)
*I find it difficult to care too much about the sculpture garden, and think enclosing and air-conditioning the Varied Industries Building was both a better architectural achievement and more useful to Iowans. And let’s not forget the Des Moines Art Center bought a piece of “artwork” consisting of three vacuum cleaners stacked vertically.