1874
Jesse Clark Hoover
Jesse Clark Hoover, father of Herbert Clark Hoover, came to West Branch from Ohio when he was eight years old with his father, Eli, in 1854. Jesse built his blacksmith shop at the corner of Downey and Penn streets in 1871. Jesse Hoover was one of three blacksmiths in a town of 500. In 1879, Jesse sold the blacksmith shop and started a new farm implement business on the corner of Downey and Main streets. The new shop was the first in town to manufacture barbed wire.