American Gothic's Birthplace

Grant Wood's classic 1930 painting American Gothic, depicting a dour Midwestern farm couple posing with a pitchfork in front of their house, has become a cultural touchstone, parodied by everyone from celebrity couples to cartoon characters.

Some residents of Eldon, Iowa (pop. 974), also get into the act.

"Hi there," says Brenda Kremer, 52, answering her front door dressed in denim overalls and a suit coat, just like the pitchfork-holding farmer in the painting. "I'm Dr. B.H. McKeeby"—the Iowa dentist whom Grant convinced to pose, with Wood's sister Nan, as the couple in the painting.

Kremer isn't a professional impersonator. But she's been known to dress up—including the pitchfork—as the Gothic homesteader for various community events in Eldon, where the cottage that Wood used as the backdrop for one of the most famous pieces of artwork in American history still stands.

In August more than 75 years ago, the painter, a native of nearby Cedar Rapids, Iowa, stumbled across the cottage during a country drive. What caught his eye about the trim board-and-batten structure was the arched gothic window in its upper gable, a frill that struck Wood as oddly pretentious for such an otherwise humble structure.

The house was home to Helen Glasson's grandparents. According to Glasson, 77, of Ottumwa, Iowa, Wood knocked on the door and asked permission to return the next day to sketch the house. His request set off a flurry of housekeeping by Glasson's mother and aunt, who wanted to make the place presentable. A mere three months later, American Gothic made its debut at an Art Institute of Chicago competition. Magazine and newspaper reprints soon made it well known around the nation and later the world.

In Eldon, it took awhile for residents to appreciate their connection to the famous painting. "I didn't live that far from it, but I didn't give it much thought," says Linda Durflinger, 61, who grew up in Eldon and is today a member of the town council.

"I thought, 'What's the big deal?'" Glasson adds. "It was in my family, and I didn't think it was anything special."

Over time, however, Eldon's identity became closely tied to the unique legacy of its "Gothic House," which was acquired by the State Historical Society of Iowa in 1991. Though the home, which sometimes is still used as a residence, has never been open for tours, hundreds of visitors trickle through town each year to see the place in person and have a souvenir photo taken in front, where they can pose just like the models in Wood's painting. Now a new welcome center slated to be built across the street from the home will give visitors more reason to linger, with art exhibits, displays of Wood's letters and period costumes to lend some real-life texture to the American Gothic experience.

The $350,000 center is scheduled to open by the second weekend of June 2007 at Eldon's annual Gothic Days festival, which historically has honored its namesake with carriage rides to Gothic House and parade floats bedecked with arched windows and Girl Scouts in 1930s-era costumes.

"Since that's the whole reason for the town celebration, we thought that would be the most appropriate time to have the opening," says Kremer, who is coordinating the welcome-center project.

Building on its past has become something of a passion for Eldon. One grassroots group is working to restore the town's 100-year-old McHaffey Opera House; another has converted the old Rock Island Railroad depot into a museum. Last summer, a third set of volunteers raised enough money to reopen Eldon's shuttered downtown restaurant and lure two experienced restaurateurs to run it.

With banners on street lampposts fluttering with the image of the famed gothic window, Eldon is ready to become a little less of a well-kept Iowa secret. "I think Gothic House is going to be the drawing card," Durflinger says. "There's not much else right now in Eldon. But once there is, I think we're going to have a big boom."

Visit www.iowahistory.org/sites/gothic_house/gothic_house.html for more information.

Melody Warnick is a freelance writer in Ames, Iowa.

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