Historic Sites
Battin Chapel / Hickory Grove School
Enjoy a step back in time when you visit the Battin Chapel, a quaint wooden church built in 1887, and the Hickory Grove School, another example of a rural one-room schoolhouse. Both attractions sit on the old Lincoln Highway, 3 miles east of Ogden, Iowa.
WEBSITE
Bells Mill Park Mill Turbine
A turbine wheel used in the actual mill along the Boone River is on display within an information kiosk building located in the park.
WEBSITE
Blanden Art Museum
Built in the Oak Hill Historic District in 1932, the Blanden Art Museum has a permanent collection which includes modern American and European paintings, African sculptures, glassworks, and 16th-20th century American, European, and Japanese prints. They also host adult and youth classes, art education classes, meet and greet artist events, and family fun activities.
WEBSITE
Boone County Courthouse
The Boone County Courthouse was built in 1917. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. This Renaissance Revival building features marble walls, terrazzo floors, coffered ceilings and stained-glass skylights.
WEBSITE
Boone County Historical Museum
The Boone County Historical Society curates the largest collection of artifacts and personal items representing important people, periods and events in our area’s history.
WEBSITE
Briggs Woods Park – Red Barn
The Old Red Barn also known as Shelter #3 is the last remaining building from the Briggs Family farmstead. It is used today as a lodge rental facility.
WEBSITE
Cole Schoolhouse
Cole School is a restored one-room brick schoolhouse that served the rural students of Boone County from 1888 to 1933. The schoolhouse retains many of its original features and is a wonderful step back to an earlier time in education.
WEBSITE
Dolliver State Park
Sandstone formations called the “Copperas Beds” and a narrow ravine running between rock walls given the name “Boneyard Hollow” are just two of the fascinating features you can learn about when you visit this park. Boasting a widely varied landscape including forest, bluffs, canyons, the Des Moines River, Prairie Creek, and Indian mounds, Dolliver is a diamond in the rough.
WEBSITE
Ellsworth Historical Museum
This small museum is located in the back of the Ellsworth Library. Despite its size you will be delighted by the variety of the exhibits about the Ellsworth area. There are extensive area genealogical information to peruse. Contact: janetadix (at) mediacombb.net for more information and an appointment only visit.
WEBSITE
Fort Museum & Frontier Village
Come explore the main street of a replicated old pioneer village. Visit the blacksmith, livery, cabinet shop, and tinsmith to learn about transportation and industry. Find out what people did before supermarkets at the general and drug stores. Feel the bustle of daily life in the church, one-room schoolhouse, and family cabin. Then you can see artifacts from the native peoples, settlers, and soldiers of...
WEBSITE
Jane Young House
The historic home of Kendall and Jane Young was built in 1873. The Webster City Women’s Club has met in the home since 1923 and, along with the Jane Young House Foundation, has lovingly cared for and maintained the site.
WEBSITE
Jewell History Museum – Jewell, Iowa
The Jewell History Museum in Jewell, Iowa premiers local historical artifacts and history. It was established in 2018 and it is now equipped with universal access. Extensive repairs have been done to its front. Come enjoy their fascinating on-going displays.
WEBSITE
Kate Shelley High Bridge
One of the highest and longest double track railroad trestles in the world, standing 185 ft. high above the Des Moines River, it spans 2,685 ft. in length.
Kendall Young Library Special Collections
Four special collections are open for the public to see. They include the Abastenia St. Leger Eberle Sculpture Collection, The Foster Doll Collection, The Van Ness Native American Collection & the Jane Young Stained Glass Window. The Beaux Arts style library itself is also a destination. It has gold marble columns from Africa, terrazzo & mosaic floors, stained glass windows & a stained glass dome....
WEBSITE
Madrid Historical Museum
The Madrid Historical museum documents the history of southern Boone County, “Swede Points” early history as a mining town, and features examples of a coal shaft and an old time city jail.
WEBSITE
Mamie Doud Eisenhower Birthplace
Birthplace of the wife of the 34th President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Mamie Doud was born here in 1896 and returned to Boone often (even as First Lady) to see her relatives, the Carlsons.
WEBSITE
Oleson Park Music Pavilion
The Oleson Park Music Pavilion, also known as the Karl King Bandshell, was designed by architect Henry Kamphoefner. The Works Progress Administration built it in 1938. This structure marked a departure from the small gazebo type bandstands constructed after the Civil War. The Karl King Municipal Band performs free concerts at the Bandshell periodically.
WEBSITE
Ringland / Smeltzer House & Oak Hill District
The Ringland/Smeltzer House is part of the Oak Hill District, a four block area placed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1977. The district consists of 15 homes which reflect the changing architectural styles of the post Civil War period, 1870-1910, and the prosperity and optimism which dominated Fort Dodge during its golden era.
WEBSITE
Skillet Creek Indian Mounds
This preserve is the site of a prehistoric Native American ceremonial ground. Five conical burial mounds and one linear ceremonial mound lie on the heavily timbered bluff overlooking the Des Moines and Skillet Creek valleys. The mounds were built 2,000 to 1,500 years ago by an extinct culture called the Woodland Indians. Found in the bottomland of the area is the old mining town of...
WEBSITE
Vegors Cemetery
Vegors Cemetery, established in 1849, overlooks the Des Moines and Boone Rivers east of Lehigh off of D26 on Xavier Ave. A white obelisk marks the grave of Mrs. Henry Lott, the first white women settler in Webster County in 1846. The site contained five mounds made by prehistoric woodlands people, at least one of which was a burial mound. A stone marker shows the...
Wilson Brewer Historical Park
In 1932, the family of Wilson Brewer conveyed a nine-acre tract from the Brewer homestead to the City of Webster City in exchange for the promise to forever preserve the land, its buildings and any subsequent additions in the name of the Wilson Brewer Park. The City accepted the Brewer family proposal and has owned and maintained the Park these past 85 years.
WEBSITE