Restoration of the Birthplace Cottage

Workers demolishing the east wing of Jennie Scellars’ house during the restoration of the birthplace cottage, 1938

NPS Collections

After Jesse Hoover sold the Birthplace Cottage in 1878 it passed to several different owners. In 1890 the Scellers family turned the building 90 degrees and attached it to a two-story house which they had moved onto the site.

In the 1920’s and early 1930’s Lou Henry Hoover, the wife of Herbert Hoover, attempted to purchase the house from Mrs. Jennie Scellers, but Mrs. Scellers declined to sell. The "Hoover House Hostess" as Mrs. Scellers was known, made a comfortable income during those years by charging the thousands of tourists she showed through the President’s birthplace 10 cents each. After Mrs. Scellers died in 1934, the Hoovers purchased the house from her heirs.

After restoring the Birthplace Cottage and providing for its upkeep, the Hoover family proposed organizing an association to have custody of the Birthplace. The Herbert Hoover Birthplace Society was founded in 1939. One of the Society's articles of incorporation stated, "The object of this corporation shall be to acquire, take care of and preserve the cottage and its surrounding grounds."

The society, now the Hoover Presidential Foundation, operated "Hoover Park" until the establishment of Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in 1965.