page_title: Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
section_title: Downey Street
hierarchical_section_title: Herbert Hoover National Historic Site / National Historic Site / Downey Street
caption_attribution_description: English: Laban Miles House at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch, IA (1870)
context_page_description: 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 the life of Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States. The park was established in 1965, shortly after it was named a National Historic Landmark. It now encompasses 186.8 acres.
  Hoover spent the first eleven years of his life in West Branch. The son of a blacksmith who practiced close to the town, Hoover was born in a small cottage in 1874. The family later moved nearby to the "House of the Maples", a two-story house. Within the next few years, Hoover was orphaned and left West Branch to live with relatives in Oregon. Hoover would go on to become a successful mining engineer, humanitarian, and President of the United States.
  The birthplace cottage fell into private hands and became a tourist destination following Hoover's nomination to the presidency in 1928. After the Hoover family acquired the cottage in the 1930s, they worked to develop a park aimed at recreating Hoover's formative childhood experience.
context_section_description: Laban Miles was the brother-in-law of Hulda Hoover. The Miles and Hoover families became close friends, and Herbert would play with the Miles children. Laban Miles later served Rutherford B. Hayes as an Indian agent. Hoover briefly lived with the Miles family in 1882 on the Osage Nation reservation while permanent plans were being made for his rearing. A farmstead owned by the Miles family south of the residential district is also part of the park. Also on Downey Street is the Amanda Garvin House, a fine example of Gothic Revival architecture. The Charles E. Smith House was moved to the site in 1969. Smith built his house in 1903, after Hoover had already left West Branch. However, the National Park Service decided to move the house to the site because of its Queen Anne architecture. His sister was the wife of Dr. L. J. Leech, who also lived on the street. Leech lived in Miles' house after moving to West Branch in 1884. While the Miles family foreclosed on their house, Leech purchased it and lived there. He built his own house next door in 1920.
  Hannah Varney built her house in 1899 after her divorce from her husband. She lived there for a year before moving to Iowa City and remarried. Her daughters Cora and Clara lived in the house until 1915. The house was moved to its present site in 1967. The P. T. Smith House was the only West Branch house that Hoover distinctly remembered when visiting the town years later. The Hoover children and the Smith children often played together, particularly enjoying sledding on nearby Cook's Hill.
caption: Laban Miles House
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