Sunday afternoon, we visited the Hoover-Minthorn House here in Newberg, OR just down the street from our house. It is the only presidential home in the Pacific Northwest and it is the oldest home in Newberg.
The Hoover-Minthorn House Museum was the boyhood home of Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States. The Museum contains some of the home's original furnishings and reflects the period from 1885 - 1888 when Hoover lived in Newberg, OR. It is the only presidential house in the Pacific Northwest.
The house was built by Jesse Edwards in 1881, it is the oldest house still standing in Newberg. Edwards was a Quaker who moved to Oregon from Plainfield, IN in 1880. When he arrived with his family, Newberg consisted of no more than a store, a blacksmith shop, and a Quaker meeting house. Edwards purchased a farm in Newberg which included property on First Street.
Dr. John Henry Minthorn was born in 1845 in Ontario. His family moved to a farm in Iowa in 1859. Dr. Minthorn enlisted in the Union army during the Civil War and helped with the "underground railroad".
After the war, he attended Iowa State Medical College in 1874. He practiced in West Branch Iowa. In 1882, he became superintendent of the Chemawa Indian School, then in Forest Grove, OR. He often visited Jesse Edwards on his travels through Newberg.
Dr. Minthorn married Laura in 1871 in West Branch, Iowa. They had a son, who died in 1884, and three daughters. The Minthorns moved to Newberg where Dr. Minthorn became superintendent at the newly organized Friends Pacific Academy in 1885, now George Fox University.
This was the Friends Pacific Academy which Hoover attended along with his photo. It is still standing on the George Fox campus but could be torn down in the future due to its age and condition.
Wouldn't you love to have a historic Bible like this?
Dr. Minthorn's portrait.
This was also an original couch that was located at the academy.
The parlor/front room.
Hoover's father, Jesse Clark Hoover was a blacksmith and farm implements store owner in West Branch, Iowa. He married Hulda Minthorn and had a son, Theodore. Herbert Clark Hoover was born August 10, 1874, and their daughter Mary was born in 1876.
Jesse and Hulda died four years apart in 1880 and 1884, both at age 34, due to illness - Pneumonia and typhoid fever.
After Hulda's death, the children were sent to live with relatives. In 1885, The Minthorns invited Herbert to live with them in Newberg and to attend Friends Pacific Academy at age 11.
On November 12, 1885, Hoover's relatives in West Branch put him on a train with a bedroll and food. A family traveling on the same train was asked to watch out for him. Dr. Minthorn met him at the Portland station in a buggy and drove twenty miles to Newberg.
The dining room of the home.
Photos and information binder.
A letter that Herbert wrote to a classmate as a boy - how fun!
Some of these books are original to Dr. Minthorn's library!
The kitchen.
Items that would have been used in this time period in kitchens.
This cabinet is original to the home.
I just love this photo. It gives me all the feels.
The shed where the buggy would have been parked.
The back porch is where many things in the home would have been done. Bathing and shaving.
Always such narrow staircases in these old homes.
Dr. and Mrs. Minthorn's bedroom.
The bedroom of the Minthorn daughters.
The dolls pictured belonged to their daughters and I believe one of the quilts.
Scriptures on his wall.
Fishing pole and basket - Dr. Minthorn used to take Herbert fishing. The river is very close.
The actual bedspread that Hoover used when he lived there as a child.
President Hoover and his dog.
Looks like a scene right off The Andy Griffith Show!
Chronology of Hoover's life.
How fun and what good advice!
Questions were asked to Hoover so that they could furnish the home accurately.
The summary of the ownership of the Hoover home over the years since it was built in 1881.
The dedication of the Hoover-Minthorn home.
Mrs. Hoover.
While he lived in Newberg, Hoover worked at many chores-splitting wood for the wood stoves, milking the cow, feeding and caring for Dr. Minthorn's horses, and sometimes driving Dr. Minthorn on house calls. In one of Hoover's memoirs, he explains the moments driving long distances with Dr. Minthorn were some of the most educational times in his life.
Above: Actual books that were in Dr. Minthorn's library.
Dr. Minthorn's medical bag.
I just love these old homes!
My souvenir from Newberg!
The backyard of the home.
The original well for the home.
The outhouse. Ha!
Very large yard.
Labeled as the caretaker home. It is a very small museum led by a ladies organization. It was not open.
What a great little piece of history right here in our little town! We really enjoyed touring Hoover's boyhood home and learning a little bit more of our American history.
"My country owes me nothing. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor. In no other land could a boy from a country village, without inheritance or influential friends, look forward with unbounded hope."
-Herbert Clark Hoover
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