Editing West Branch, Iowa (section)

== History ==
[[Image:Herbert Hoover birthplace.jpg|left|thumb|Hoover birthplace cottage]]

West Branch was laid out in 1869 by Joseph Steer. It was incorporated in 1875.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_l4QUAAAAYAAJ | title=A Topical History of Cedar County, Iowa, Volume 1 | publisher=S. J. Clarke | author=Aurner, Clarence Ray | year=1910 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_l4QUAAAAYAAJ/page/n151 149]}}</ref>

The city was first settled chiefly by Quakers from Ohio.  Its name is derived from the meeting place of the West Branch Quakers, and the location of the city on the west branch of the Wapsinonoc Creek.<ref>[http://vimeo.com/1545029 GazetteOnline.com video "West Branch, Iowa" by Stephen Schmidt]</ref> Most of Main Street is part of the [[West Branch Commercial Historic District]].

Before the [[American Civil War]], areas in and around West Branch were stops of the [[Underground Railroad]]. [[Abolitionism in the United States|Abolitionist]] [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] once stayed at the Maxson farm east of West Branch.<ref>[http://iagenweb.org/history/soi/soi37.htm John Brown And The Underground Railroad<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://www.hooverassociation.org/johnbrown.html hooverassociation.org]  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928082327/http://www.hooverassociation.org/johnbrown.html |date=September 28, 2007 }}</ref> He also stayed at James Townsend's inn, the Traveler's Rest, in the winter of 1856.<ref>John Brown: 1800-1859: A biography after fifty years, page 312
 By Oswald Garrison Villard</ref> In 2008, archaeologists found evidence of unmarked graves in nearby North Liberty Cemetery while investigating an account of 17 escaped slaves who died before reaching Canada.<ref>Gregory R. Norfleet, [http://westbranchtimes.com/article.php?id=3458 Slave graves: Researchers find evidence behind 150-year-old tale. ''West Branch Times,'' August 27, 2008]</ref>
 
West Branch experienced rapid growth after the [[Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway]] was built through it.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=noQUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA509 | title=The History of Cedar County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, etc. | publisher=Western Historical Company | year=1878 | pages=509}}</ref>

President [[Herbert Hoover]] was born in West Branch in 1874. The [[Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum]] was dedicated here by Hoover and his close friend, President [[Harry Truman]], in 1962.<ref>[http://www.trumanlibrary.org/hoover/trade.htm#234 Hoover and Truman – Chapter 6: Exclusive Trade Unionists<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The [[Herbert Hoover National Historic Site]], which includes the Library-Museum, the Hoover Birthplace Cottage and the gravesites of President and Lou Henry Hoover, was authorized by Congress on August 12, 1965.<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/heho/herbert-hoover-site.htm NPS – Page In-Progress<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>